Enemies Resurrected
by Iyami-sama
Summary: Ghosts of the past return to haunt demons and humans alike as Ruri struggles to reunite those she considers family. Rated for language and violence. Crossover w and evolution of Inuyasha; Sequel of "There and Back Again."
1. Formalities and Informalities

Author's Notes:

This is more or less the second half of "There and Back Again," as it picks up where the other leaves off. Actually, um, it's more than half, as this came out way longer than the original did. For those that haven't read the original, I've put a summary of it at the bottom of this chapter on it. Short form is, this is a three-way crossover, with the third part "silent". Obviously, it's a Nadesico-Inuyasha crossover, but Inuyasha's battles aren't a good match for Nadesico's, so I brought in some of the thinking behind Rurouni Kenshin, although none of the characters are here. (Hence, my calling it a silent third crossover. ^_^) If there are questions about this, lemme know, and if you have questions about Nadesico, drop by Peacefuldays.org or Rurihoshino.com. And go buy the movie, since ADV finally released it. ;-)

// \\

"Terminal On."

"Good morning, Sesshoumaru-sama. You have. One. New message waiting. Begin playback?"

"Please." Sesshoumaru still wasn't sure why he extended courtesy to a house terminal. He also still wasn't sure why the damn thing had to tell him that he had a message waiting for him when it was the bloody "new message" light that made him turn it on in the first place.

"Message from the Chairman of Nergal Industries, Inutaishou Inuyasha. Beginning playback."

"Good morning, Father," a face said as the message began playback. "I hope this message finds you well. Ship time is on GMT or I would place a person-to-person call with you."

"Are you always so formal with your father?" Ruri's head popped into the camera's range over his right shoulder as her arm snaked over his left. "Besides, if he wrapped my birthday present for you he probably knows what we're calling him about." As the normally reserved Hoshino Ruri was exuberant, yes, he did know why his son was contacting him. Sesshoumaru decided to not to point out to the terminal that he had helped his son pick out the rock on her hand in addition to having been the conspirator in charge of the cake. The point of the video letter itself was formality. Sesshoumaru reached over to his filing cabinet and started thumbing through his degrees to see if any granted him minister rights as the letter continued.

His son had pinned his fiancee's arms around himself and tried to continue. "Father, I am writing you to announce both my acceptance of the seat of chairman with Nergal Industries as well as, and more importantly, to announce my engagement to the current captain of the _Nadesico_, Hoshino Ruri. With your blessing, sir, we will begin wedding preparations, and would ask that your esteemed self officiate the ceremony." Sesshoumaru pulled a folder of likely degrees and leafed through them a little slower. His son droned on with formalities neither party really cared about but were tradition-bound to say and hear. 

"And so, all said father, we look forward to discussing the situation further upon our return to earth. Peace and Long Life, Inutaishou Inuyasha."

"Bai bai, daddy!" Ruri called as the screen blinked black. Sesshoumaru pulled a few law books to check on a few degrees' status regarding "minister".

// \\

Inuyasha sighed and tilted his head back to look up at Ruri. "You know, the whole point of that was formality and following protocol. He already knew I was proposing tonight."

She leaned further over his head and kissed him again, 'Baka. But I don't want to be formal tonight. Besides, wouldn't it be against protocol for the Chairman of Nergal to make out with the Captain of one of the ships his company owns?'

He pulled Ruri into his lap and kissed her properly. 'Touché.'

'See? You're already learning to let me win.' They ended the kiss and she leaned her head on his chest.

The youkai squeezed her to him slightly. 'You know, you're in a very... bouncy mood this evening.'

She sighed, enjoying the embrace. 'I just feel like I have a right to be happy for once, and I am.'

He rose from the desk's chair, still holding her in his arms. 'Wait for a minute. I need your terminal.'

He paused and let her punch a series of commands in Omoikane. 'There,' she thought when she finished.

'What was that for?'

'Baka. Now as far as anyone is concerned, I'm in my quarters.'

'Unless they try the door.'

'It's locked with an emergencies-only filter. And the only people who're in the filter are the Chairman of Nergal, the resident vice-admiral, and the first officer, all of whom are well aware of who you are. Tonight, I get to sleep by your side like we did in Sengoku Jidai.'

The youkai laughed at his hanyou bride-to-be's words. 'Are you eighten and engaged or thirteen with a schoolgirl's crush?' He asked as he plopped them on the quarters' couch.

'Both.'

// \\

They both woke early the next morning. Neither was much of a morning person, but both had a long list of duties to attend to for the day. As much as both wanted to stay put and just be together, the universe does not stop its motions because a couple admits to the world that they love each other.

Ruri was finishing tugging her uniform into place as she stepped from the bedroom area into the office area of the suite. Her love was buried in his terminal reviewing the Nergal Master Project List but looked up when he felt her presence in the room. Inutaishou's Lackeys were there as well, encircled with papers and multiple portable terminals and laptops on the couch and its surrounding floor space.

"Don't you ever give these guys a break?"

"Sure, but not for a couple of days. Until I was officially made chairman several areas of Nergal's files were still classified. Front!" One of the two assistants snapped his head up. "Greg-san, would you get Ruri-chan that file?" The man nodded and dug through a nearby stack of manila and white.

"Oh, one small item before the business day, Ruri-chan. Can the Lackeys call you nee-san? It's become a tradition for them - they've been calling me nii-san for a while."

Ruri nodded, a bit bewildered. "So long as I get nii-chan," she teased as Greg handed her a thick file.

"This is one of the begrudgingly declassified ones. It's Nergal's involvement in a certain kidnapping a few years ago."

Ruri took the file and turned it over in her hands. She didn't want to read anything in it, at least not yet. Maybe in a few days, maybe in a few weeks. Right now, she just wanted to be happy.

"I haven't found the courage to read it yet either, love. Besides, you have more right to its contents than I do, and I will not hide anything from you. Well, except presents." The last brought a small smile to Ruri. 'I agree with you, too. Let's just try to be happy for a few days.'

Feeling comforted, Ruri smiled and grabbed a muffin and orange juice from the tray one of the Lackeys had brought in. She kissed her fiance and headed for the bridge.

// \\

To say that patrol is boring is a truism. Though it may seem odd, on the days when you do nothing at all, you've done your job right. Nothing of consequence was happening on the bridge, and it was still too early for any meaningful conversation to be developing. She was tempted to open the file on the edge of her console when a light flashed over at comm.

"Captain, we are being hailed by a merchant-class vessel, _The_ _Opportunist_."

Ruri stood and leaned on her con. _What was a merchant-class vessel doing out here?_ "Confirm ship identity and open visual channel."

"Vessel matches records in ship's database," the backup operator reported. It was rather evident that Hari was avoiding her for the time being.

"Channel open, Captain."

The ever-unchanging starfield was replaced by a dishevelled-looking man in a sea captain's hat. He looked like he reeked of vodka and hadn't slept in a week.

"I need to speak with the Chairman! Now!"

"I would first like to be told who led you to believe that the Nergal Chairman was here." 'Inu-kun, there's a psycho here to see you. I don't know what he wants yet.'

'Should I come up to the bridge?'

'Not yet, koi. If I need you, I'll let you know.'

"I know that he's there, and I will speak with him, IN PERSON! Deny my request and I'll fire on your ship!"

For the benefit of the other end, Ruri neglected to hit mute and seated herself in her chair. "Operator, please confirm armament of opposing vessel."

The computer operator rattled off the standard merchant-class armaments.

"Calculate risk of damage to ship in battle."

"Zero mark zero. Zero. One, Captain." Still, youkai don't live a thousand years by trusting everyone.

"Sir, please stand down and state your business with the chairman. If you fire upon us, we will not hesitate to return fire."

"My business is solely with the chairman. It may NOT be discussed with anyone else."

"Sir, I am authorized to speak on behalf of the chairman. Anything that you would say to him can be said to me."

'I'm on it, Ruri-chan.'

"You're bluffing."

The new message light flashed on Ruri's console. With a smile and gesture that would have made Kirk proud she punched the command. "Am I?"

The face of her of her love flashed onto her viewscreen and the merchant's.

"Greetings. I am Inutaishou Inuyasha, President and Chairman of Nergal Industries as of two-zero-three-one Greenwich Mean Time yesterday. I hereby authorize Captain Hoshino Ruri of the _Nadesico_ to speak on my behalf while I am aboard her vessel, so that I might attend to matters pertaining to the change of office within Nergal. I regret that I am unable to speak with you at this time. Please extend Captain Hoshino any courtesies you would extend to myself, and I assure you that she will reciprocate."

Inu's face disappeared from the screen to be replaced by the far less attractive face of the merchant captain. Apparently, the former had knocked the wind from the sails of the latter.

"Um, I've come to, er, renegotiate the terms of my contract."

Inu had keyed in a terminal to the conversation, more for the Lackeys' benefit than his own. All three dove at their screens to track down the contract in question.

"You see, I wish to re-examine the early termination portion of my contract."

"Bingo!" Greg, AKA Lackey #1, passed a file to Inu and Ruri on a secure channel.

"I see," Ruri calmly replied. "And what exactly do you find disagreeable with your terms?"

'Ruri-chan, it's standard language that Nergal didn't write. He's got a zero chance in hell of renegotiating that part. He's in a Kobiyashi Maru if he goes... SHIT! Ruri! Have you scanned that ship for lifeforms?'

'Baka, you take for granted that a merchant vessel has at least one life form on it.'

'Trust me. Please.'

"Sir, please allow us a few minutes to acquaint ourselves with that portion of your contract." Comm followed her lead and killed the channel. "Operator, scan vessel for life forms."

The bridge crew stared at their captain as the computer operator touched controls. She blinked and turned to face her captain. "No life forms found."

"Run the fastest recalibration you can and re-scan."

"Confirmed, no life forms."

'Anata?'

'They're not in Kobiyashi Maru. _We_ are. Apparently one of my adversaries has decided to test me already.'

"Open a channel to the opposing vessel."

"Channel open, ma'am."

"Captain, please transmit to my communications officer your course, including point of origin and port of destination."

"But about my complaints regarding my contract-"

"Your contract is in order. If you have a problem with the early termination portion, I suggest that you take it up with the Solar Trade Commission instead of Nergal."

"This isn't the en-"

"Other side has terminated connection, Captain," the comm officer calmly reported.

"Captain! We're being fired upon!" Despite knowing no damage would happen, there was still a slight edge of panic in the operator's voice. The ship shook slightly as the conventional warheads exploded harmlessly off the distortion field.

"Tactical, disable their weapons systems, engines and any communications equipment you can target. We're not too far from a port, we'll tow the garbage there and drop it off while we pick up supplies."

Tactical officer Willams Haruko of Japanese-American descent was considered the most sadistic gunner in any of the Earth's fleets. She took great pride in simply crippling enemies instead of outright destroying them. Ruri's order was sweet and delicious to the woman, and Ruri knew it.

'Hey, Ruri-chan, is she attached?'

'No,' Ruri responded pensively.

'Hmm. I think Father needs a date to bring to the wedding.'

'Baka.'

'Just a thought.'

The crew watched as Williams worked her targeting skills. Since the ship was in no danger, she took her time and missed no shots. Ruri gave the order and two Aestivalis were deployed to secure tow lines to the crippled vessel. The bridge crew collectively stretched and started miscellaneous conversations. The miscellaneous conversations quickly became a bridge-wide conversation on the subject of the passenger that the ship had picked up the day before. 

"So, I wonder what the new Chairman's like?" Communications officer Lisette Johnson wondered aloud.

Haruko leaned closely to her fellow officer's ear and half-whispered, "They say he's vicious with a sword, a real deeeemon."

Lisette laughed. "Oh, please!"

"Kawaiiii" was all that the navigator could get out of her mouth.

'Inu, get down here.'

'Why, dearest? You've dispatched with the situation.'

'Not that situation, this one.'

'I see. Well, I guess I'll come to your rescue. Or maybe it's my rescue I'm coming to.'

'Baka.'

Ruri blinked back to the bridge to see Haruko leaning over the captain's console. "Rumors are spreading, Captain, that a question was asked last night at that big-wig dinner party."

Vice-admiral O'Conner stepped up behind the captain's chair. "My dear girl, you are an excellent shot, but you aren't very observant at all, are you?"

The weapons officer blinked and stared up at the officer then over to First Officer Saburouta, waiting for an explanation. Shock spread over the Vice Admiral's face as he looked around the room to see bewilderment in every quarter. "Do you mean that on a bridge full of women that an old codger like me is the only one who noticed it this morning?"

It was at that moment that the Chairman of Nergal, who had been lurking just outside the door sensor's range, chose to step onto the bridge. The crew's eyes were still sweeping back and forth between their Senior Officers, and, even though he was less than six feet away from the trio, the chairman was completely unnoticed except by Ruri.

"Chairman on the Bridge!" Ruri snapped, and everyone but Ruri turned and saluted. Ruri had walked up to the chairman to exchange formalities, but found that she couldn't talk because Inuyasha's mouth was blocking hers.

'Baka.'

'It worked, didn't it?'

// \\

Sesshoumaru thumbed through yet another set of folders filled with his diplomas. Old age hath its privileges, but being a thousand years old was sometimes a pain in the ass. You accumulated too much junk to be able to find anything useful. Making sure he was legal to perform the ceremony would likely prove the hardest task about the wedding. And Misumaru-Tenkawa hadn't called him back yet. Granted, he hadn't told her why he was calling her, but still, it was getting impolite.

He sighed and thumbed an old-fashioned remote to bring his terminal to life. Selecting a newscast he continued to leaf through a mountain of papers. Too bad Jaken had died a few years ago. The toad might have actually been useful for this.

"Archeologists today discovered a new find, right here in Tokyo, dating all the way back to Sengoku Jidai!" Sesshoumaru put down his papers, wondering if it was the tomb of anybody he knew.

"We're live with Doctor Urashima of Tokyo University. Doctor, what can you tell us about this find?"

"Well, It was definitely supposed to be a tomb, but we didn't actually discover a body inside. We've been able to determine that it was designed to be the final resting place of someone named 'Kanna', but it doesn't appear that she was ever interred here."

"I believe," the youkai snorted at the screen, "that my future daughter-in-law would say 'baka.' However."

// \\

The video call light on the chairman's terminal blinked, then sounded. Ruri sleepily sat up and groped sleepily for the panel. "Dammit, Omoikane, answer the phone!"

The terminal blinked to life, and Ruri was faced with her to-be father-in-law

"Daughter, would you awaken my son?"

"One second." 'BAAAAAAKAAAAA!'

Inuyasha jerked up to a sitting position. "'What's wrong?'"

'Beats me. He's your father.' Ruri flopped back against the mattress.

Inu climbed over her already-sleeping form as he tried to shake his head awake. "Father, I apol-"

Sesshoumaru held up his hand, cutting his son off. "One, it's late. Two, you already told me of your behavior in Sengoku Jidai, and I have faith in your innocence. If not, that will save me a lot of pain when it comes to figuring out if I'm already qualified to marry you two."

Inu blushed at the intimation and scratched his head. "Didn't you get ordained by the Catholic Church about fifty years ago as a joke?"

"Hmm. I should check and see if I'm still a 'member' of the church."

"Father, I don't think you called me about a minister's license. And yes, you still need it. Yurika-san would kill all of us if Ruri's wedding weren't at least the same size as hers and Akito-san's."

Sesshoumaru reflected on the latter. "You are correct, my son. To the matter at hand. Do you remember your uncle's telling of how Naraku was defeated?"

The younger youkai shook some more cobwebs from his brain. "Naraku's spirit could not be entirely destroyed, so in a final act of defiance Kanna sealed him in her mirror. He almost wasn't contained and, like Midoriko, she was forced to seal herself inside the mirror as well. Inuyasha and company gave Kanna a proper burial, and the Houshi sealed it."

"And Kagura?"

The cobwebs still weren't quite out of his mind. "What about my ex? I've zero regrets about leaving her." He smiled down at Ruri and brushed her cheek with his hand. "Besides, even if I had not been forbidden to mate with youkai, I doubt I would have taken her, nor she taken me. On top of that, after meeting Ruri-chan--"

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened. "You _knew_?"

"Knew what? Father, I'm not awake. Onegai, naze nani."

"Oh. Do you remember what Inuyasha-sama said happened to Kagura after the fight?"

"Um, no, Sesshoumaru-sama. I don't."

"Precisely, my son. We don't know what happened to Kagura."

Gears clicked. The young youkai was fully awake now. "You mean **she** is the same Kagura?"

Ruri felt the distress in his voice and brought her mind back to consciousness, filling in the gaps in the conversation from her love's mind as she got up and made coffee. No way to go back to sleep now.

"I believe so, yes. I apologize for not realizing it sooner, my son. It had been centuries since I had seen her last."

"There is no need to apologize, father. She did not recognize yourself, either. She was, at least, honest with me, unlike my mother. She would have mentioned remembering you of all people. Still, please tell me why you called. It cannot be to simply cross-check facts you yourself know better than I."

"Indeed," his father confirmed as Ruri handed Inuyasha coffee and sat beside him. He watched as his father punched a few commands into his terminal, and then Omoikane displayed a second screen which played back a news clip of an archaeological dig.

"I see," Inuyasha stated after the story finished. "So should I presume this is where the Kanna from our history was interred?"

"But the grave was empty," Ruri objected.

"Indeed. I will need to call in some favors to gain access to this professor in order to inquire further."

"Only one favor, father. Tokyo U. was where I acquired my first degree, and my antiquities studies were under Urashima Keitaro, whom most likely was the grandfather of the current professor." The youkai punched some commands into his console. "This was Urashima-sensei's residence during that time. As it had already been in his family for several generations, I should not be suprised to find this professor living there as well."

"Arigato, my son. I will let both of you know if I find anything else out. You each have enough to be concerned with as it is."

"Arigato, Sesshoumaru-sama."

The youkai set his cup on the nightstand and let himself fall backward against the mattress as his father's image faded. He shook his head again and Ruri stifled a laugh.

'What was that for?'

'It's just that there are only two times when it's evident you're a dog youkai.'

'Baka. And what are those times?'

'Baka yourself. When you scratch, and when you shake your head.'

The youkai sat up to kiss the hanyou. 'Well just stick a collar on me and call me Spot.'

'Only if after we start I get bored with the normal way.' Inuyasha was confused until she sent him a mental picture which left two things: no doubt, and his face the color of her fire rat kimono.

'Hey, whatever happened to that thirteen-year old with a schoolgirl's crush?'

'She was replaced by an eighteen-year old who's engaged.' It seemed to Inuyasha that she added extra sway to her hips as she sauntered to the head to get ready for duty.

// \\

_Next up, Bell Peppers and Beef, Akito emerges and Fluffy's musical tastes revealed..._

// \\

"There & Back Again" Summary:

While this is set two years after The Prince of Darkness, the first part begins in The Blank of Three Years, during the time Ruri was living with Yurika and Akito. (And if you need some canon on The Blank, head over to rurihoshino.com and peacefuldays.org.) What "There & Back Again" tries to do is draw two parallels, first between the house of Inutaishou (Inutaishou and his sons Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru) and Hoshino Ruri, and second between the Shards of Shikon (Shikon no Kakera) and Chulip Crystals. The theory is that due to the genetic manipulation done to Ruri as an embryo, she becomes something of a 32nd cousin to Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha. Also, it should be pointed out that I named Sesshoumaru's son Inuyasha, which is the Inuyasha who appears in this story. Also, in keeping with the whole reincarnation thing that Inuyasha has going on in it, I made Ruri the reincarnation of the hanyou. 

As to what's going on with Ruri and Inu being in each other's thought (literaly, not metaphorically), in Sengoku Jidai Ruri was attacked and lost a good deal of blood in addition to being poisoned. Inu used his father's Tenseiga to heal the wound and cleanse the poison, but while the sword can heal wounds and resurrect the dead, it doesn't just replace blood. At least, I don't see it working that way. So, Inu uses the Tenseiga to create a blood transfusion between himself and Ruri. This had the unexpected effect of linking their minds in much the same way Dracula became linked to Mina Murray.

That story ends the same evening this one begins, with Inuyasha proposing to Ruri.


	2. Aaaaaaaaakiito!

The debate of the morning between the two lovers was whose job was currently more boring. The debate raged on until the Lackeys, Greg and Dean, proposed that the chairman double their number. While Inuyasha didn't have to think and just said yes they could, he forfeited the debate by default for making a decision. Ruri then decided to rag on him until he came to get her for lunch because he lost, which was all of five minutes.

The two walked slowly to the mess hall, neither sure which was better - to not be "working," or to be with each other.

'Each other,' Inuyasha decided.

'But I was awoken early this morning and I'm grumpy.'

'But you're kawaii when you're grumpy.'

'Baka.'

'Oh, that's right, you're always kawaii.' Ruri sighed in defeat and let her head tump against his shoulder three or four times in protest.

They rounded the last corner and entered the cafeteria.

'Alright,' the youkai resolved, 'you aren't kawaii.' He continued before Ruri could react. 'You were kawaii when you were thirteen, which as you pointed out earlier you are not. Therefore,' he concluded as he picked up trays for them, 'I have no choice but to call you beautiful.'

'Baka,' came the reply, although she didn't get much effort into it and the bloodflow to her face multiplied.

They walked up to the counter which was manned by a bald and bearded ox of a man wearing an apron.

'Ruri-chan, what's good?'

'The house special's always good.'

"Two house specials."

"Alright, bell peppers and beef it is for the Captain and the Chairman."

"Arigato, Jet-san."

"Arigato," Inu echoed.

They, well the youkai, carried the trays to a quieter corner of the hall, passing the Lackeys on their way in. Dean and Greg were heavily involved in negotiations with several members of Ruri's bridge crew concerning evening plans, and both parties failed to notice their bosses passing by them.

'It would seem that the two crews are getting along rather well,' the youkai commented.

'Perhaps I should come down on the fact that Nergal does not smile on fraternization, or has that policy changed with the new administration?' Inu knew when he was being teased by Ruri.

'Considering the trend set by the captain of the first vessel to bear the name _Nadesico_, I'd have a hard time enforcing the old policy. Besides, if I enforce the policy then I wouldn't get to make out with the captain, would I?'

// \\

"I'm on the HIGHway to Heeellyellyell!"

The sound from the stereo was unparallel in its quality. The sound of the V12 at his back was divine. The sound issuing from the mouth of the Lord of the Western Lands, however, was neither and frankly the opposite. He was well aware that while he was in a vehicle he was quite the embarrassment to his son. Outside of the doors of one of his cars, he was the epitome of cool, calm, and collected. Inside those doors, well, it was his car and he could do as he damn well pleased, no matter how out of character his son considered it. He stomped the emergency brake at his ankle and slid sideways into the intersection, gunning the engine forward as soon as he was aligned with the lane he wanted. The light was yellow; it wasn't illegal. Besides, if traffic on the freeway hadn't been snarled then he wouldn't have had to rush through the back streets to get to this "Hinata House", which was the domicile of the Professor Urashima he had seen on the news the night before.

He flew down the final streets as if he were a bat out of hell instead of on a highway into it. Sesshoumaru was never late, never early. He was always present at the exact moment he wanted to be. Except right now. Right now he was five minutes later than he wanted to be. Had it not been a Ferrari he was driving, then he would remain five minutes late, but the car needed to stretch its legs. At least, that made a good excuse to make good use of the sixth gear. 

Finally, he pulled into Hinata's driveway. Since there apparently wasn't going to be a lot of room to turn around, he ever so gracefully gunned it then tossed the car into a one-eighty spin, letting it roll the final feet backwards in neutral.

"Perfect."

// \\

Professor Urashima's wife poured tea for the professor and his guest, as Sesshoumaru prepared to come directly to the reason for his visit.

"So, I take it a relative of one of my grandfather's students saw our little find on the news, eh? I must admit, it's rather odd to find such a thing within Tokyo, and after this long as well."

Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement. "Indeed, Urashima-sensei. I believe that it may match some legends which have been passed down in my family for generations, and am curious to know what the tomb contained."

Urashima waved a hand dismissively. "Nothing actually. It was quite sealed up, yet it didn't contain anything."

Sesshoumaru's face darkened, ever so slightly. "Sensei, are you sure there was no evidence of robbery? One would not seal up an empty tomb with enchantment unless there were something worth sealing, something which one did not want to escape. Or do I speak wrongly?" Bingo. Sesshoumaru had danced around the fact he knew exactly what was in there and got the professor to squirming. Although in this case "blanching" might be a more appropriate word.

Blanching soon became an understatement as professor's hands began to shake. The tea almost sloshed out of his cup, and he set it back on the table. "Such things are simply the misunderstanding of a simpler people of something that they did not understand. Magic items don't exist, seals don't keep out - or in - evil, and demons... don't... exist!"

"Sir, you sound as if you were convincing yourself, not me." Sesshoumaru measured his tones carefully.

"Nonsense, my good man! You-you're the one the suggested that the tomb had something undead sealed inside!"

"Sir, I never said 'undead.'"

"It's been rather nice meeting you," Urashima rose, and Sesshoumaru followed suit, "but I have classes I need to get to and-"

Sesshoumaru whipped Toukijin from its home and laid the blade on the man's shoulder. "Do you feel that? It is an 'enchanted' item which you just said does not exist. And yet, feel how it pulses with a life of its own, and radiates with malice." Damn, he still had the intimidation touch. He hadn't had to use it in _ages_, and it still worked like a charm.

The professor's knees quaked and he fell back to his pillow on the floor. The youkai allowed his blade to rest on the man's shoulder for a moment longer before replacing it at his side and sitting back down.

"Urashima-sensei, I have no desire to harm you. However, it is of life and death importance that you take me to the grave, tell me exactly what happened when you broke the seals or, more preferably, both."

// \\

Ruri wrapped her arms around Inuyasha and pulled him towards her as they reclined in her quarters. The office of Inu's quarters should have been declared a disaster area, as the neat orderly piles that had existed two days ago were now simply mounds. It would seem that her betrothed had underestimated the amount of paper that Nergal could generate. Of course, if he'd just asked her how much paper she alone was forced to generate, he might not have been caught unaware.

'A hit, a very palpable hit.'

'Hmm?' Ruri's mind drifted back to the man propped against her shoulder.

'Hamlet. Of course, that's The Big Death Scene, so it's not quite analogous.'

'Baka.'

'Yep. Happily so. You're settling back to your old self, by the way.'

'Is that a bad thing, Inu-kun?' Ruri asked, with nothing but seriousness behind her thoughts. 'I want to be a good wife, and Yurika-san-'

'Is not Ruri-chan.' Inu sat up and turned to pull her with him until they had exchanged positions, and now it was she on his lap. 'Yurika-san is a... vibrant type of person. Charismatic. You, my love, are not the charismatic type. You do not need people to love you as Yurika-san does. Yes, everybody needs love. Far be it for me to argue with John or Paul.'

'Christian philosophy, now?'

'Baka, Beatles.' He hummed a few bars into her ear, which jogged her memory. He tightened his arms around her. 'Ruri-chan, we've both been... giddy... since becoming engaged, and that's fine. However, there is also nothing wrong with returning to our 'old' selves. There's nothing wrong with being shy, quiet and introspective. You don't ask me to change, and I have no desire for you to change.'

"'Inu-kun, I love you.'"

"' I love you too, Ruri-chan.'"

It was then that Omoikane flashed the incoming call light and popped open a terminal in front of them. Before them was the face of Inutaishou Sesshoumaru, looking darker than Ruri had ever seen him. She was more afraid of him now than she had been when Inu and Sesshoumaru had faced each other in Sengoku Jidai.

"Good evening, son and daughter. I am afraid we were correct."

// \\

Ruri contained herself until the transmission with her father-in-law-to-be ended. She sat silently for a moment, trying to not even think anything, knowing that Inuyasha was well aware of her thoughts. She leaned her head back against the couch until she was staring up at the ceiling, and wished for the thousandth time that the ship's designers would have given at least the captain's quarters a porthole into space to stare out of.

"This isn't fair," she said aloud, as much to herself as the one seated next to her.

"No, it's not," her youkai responded, crossing his legs where he sat on the couch and then mirrored that with his arms, mimicing one of his uncle's favored poses.

"We're supposed to be planning a wedding, I'm supposed to be leading a ship, and you're supposed to be leading a corporation. We're not supposed to be fighting demons. We did that already. We shouldn't have to do it again just because some aho broke a mirror. There're already enough things we... I... have to deal with. Why shouldn't the princess get to just live happily ever after with her prince? I've already lost my knight..." Inuyasha watched as a single tear formed before she finished "Where are you, Akito?"

Inuyasha reached over and quietly took her hand. 

"You're not mad?" Ruri whispered.

He shook his head like a dog, with the successful intention of making Ruri smile. "As far as I know, I'm the only being in existence who has the luxury of being able to read my beloved's mind. If I don't understand something you do or say, I only have to wait for fullness to come. There's no need for me to be upset. I know what Akito-san means to you. You just called me your prince, but I also know that Akito is your knight in shining armor."

'Arigato, Inu-kun,' she thought as she leaned against his shoulder.

'Ruri-chan, why don't you call Yurika-san after you get a chance to calm down? To my knowledge, it's been a while since the two of you just talked, and I know she isn't aware of our engagement yet.'

'It's just.. Alright. It's good a time as any, I guess. Tomorrow we dock for supplies and that's going to be boring yet incredibly busy.'

'Such is the life of a warship in a time which is evolving into peace.'

"'Hai.' Omoikane, call Yurika-san."

Omoikane blinked a working sign for a few seconds as he secured a channel for her.

// \\

Misumaru-Tenkawa Yurika stared at the two framed pictures sitting on her desk in her and Akito's apartment. One was of herself and Akito shortly before they were married, and the other was of the two of them and Ruri at the wedding. Why couldn't things be now like they were then? She stared down at the melting ice in the glass before her. She had always hated alcohol for the effect it had on people until she had lost Akito. She only drank when the pain was especially unbearable, like now. Ruri's birthday (well, what everyone had agreed was her birthday, to this day no one was one hundred percent sure) had passed a few days ago and with it all her memories were dredged back. Akito still hadn't come back to her, where was he?

She watched as the incoming call light flashed. Probably someone asking for something from the office. The former captain of the _Nadesico_, now pushing papers around a desk and calling it "strategy." Who cared? They could go hang themselves. She had scheduled this week off to mope. Still, it could be something about Akito. Screw it. She punched the answer button and watched as a familiar face blinked before her.

"Ruri-Ruri!"

"Ohayo, Yurika-san."

Ruri blinked slightly. She knew that Yurika kept alcohol in the house, but had never seen her consume any of it. She was obviously tipsy, especially for this early in the morning local time. For her part, Yurika tried to smile for her adopted daughter.

"Happy Birthday, Ruri-chan."

"Arigato. How are you?"

"I'm... okay. Have you..."

Ruri shook her head. "I still haven't heard from Akito-san yet. But, I did hear from someone else," Ruri's shyness claimed her face as she became redder than Yurika. She slowly lifted her left hand into the frame. Yurika blinked and recognized what that meant.

"Did Hari finally come out and ask you? Ruri-Ruri, that's wonderful!"

"Er, no, he did though, but, it's not him..."

Sensing the need for his presence, Inu leaned into the frame and rested his chin on Ruri's shoulder. Yurika blinked to try to push the alcohol from her brain so she could remember who it was she was looking at.

"Inuya-- but you're older than Ruri!"

The youkai thought before responding. "Tenkawa-san, if an age gap in human years truly matters, then I'm too old to marry your grandmother. Remember, I'm over 200 years old in human terms, although that's nothing for a youkai. If it makes you feel any better, in terms of my lifespan I've gone through less of it than Ruri-chan has, and she'll outlive yourself by a longshot."

The memories of the Inutaishous slowly rolled back to Yurika. It truly had been a long time since that blissful time before they were kidnapped. Those days with Sesshoumaru and his son were certainly the most bizarre she'd gone through. Demons exist, Ruri's part demon, and, now, she's marrying a demon.

"If this will bring you happiness, Ruri-chan, then I guess I'm okay with it. May I ask what made you choose him over Hari?"

Ruri paused, trying to figure out a way to explain it. "You try spending your life with one person while having your mind totally open to someone else" wasn't going to cut it. A few of the particulars of that line of thought caused Inu to lose a few coolness points as a slight rosiness appeared on his cheeks.

"Yurika-san, I don't... trust Hari. He has a dark side, I think, that he won't show to me. Inu isn't a white sheep by any means, but he trusts me with knowing his dark side."

"He's not violent, is he?" The fear was evident in Yurika's face, even if Ruri knew it was unmerited. She shook her head. Ruri paused, sorting through the images from Inu's mind which she'd never tried to explain even, to a certain extent, to herself.

"In two hundred years, everyone does things which they aren't proud of to survive, and to keep yourself hidden from the public means behaving like the shadows at times."

Yurika didn't bother trying to completely understand what her adopted daughter had just said. Ruri had proven years ago that her wisdom could exceed her age.

"Okay," Yurika responded, catching Ruri slightly off-guard by slipping in an English word. "So, any details on the wedding yet?"

Inu left the screen to let the two talk for a while longer. They were both carefully dodging the subject of Akito, he knew, but they didn't call each other often. Winter wedding, probably in January sometime, blue and white, or yellow and orange, small wedding, big wedding, small wedding, big wedding. It was the most "girly" conversation he'd ever heard Ruri involved in.

'Baka, I heard that.'

'Yeah, but you can't claim I'm not right,' he retorted, setting a cup of tea at her elbow.

// \\

Tenkawa Akito awoke suddenly and slowly sat up. The house was quiet at this hour. It was not a rambunctious boarding house by any standard, but it was large enough that a few hours from now when the day began that he would have no peace until it ended again. He cast one last look at the sleeping form beside him, then got up to prepare for the day.

Granted, it had been quieter around the house the last few weeks, he thought as he mechanically ran a toothbrush through his mouth. Irritation rose up within him as he remembered the reason for the temporary slowdown, which promised to end today.

One of Nergal's warships was docking in a few hours and would offload several muckety-mucks. Kagura had managed to get a contract with Nergal to provide housing for any that were offloaded while the bigwigs waited to return to their respective homes. Granted, it guaranteed business for his restaurant (which was slowly building as he slowly regained his former sense of taste), and certainly lined Kagura's wallet.

However, it was still Nergal. His memory was still missing large gaps, but he had pieced together enough of his past to know that he hated Nergal. Once again he stared at the reflection returning his gaze in the mirror and tried to remember.

He remembered two women, one dark haired and one light. He knew he was a protector to both and loved each, albeit differently, but all be could see was the vague outline of their faces. Though he couldn't remember their names, he did know that he used to be lover to one of them and protector to the other.

"A knight in shining armour," Akito whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Hey, what're you doing up?" Akito asked his landlady as he slathered foam on his face. "I didn't want to wake you."

"It's quite alriqht," Kagura purred as she watched him drag the razor across his face. "I need to get up early today anyways. The _Nadesico_ will be docking this afternoon."

"N-Nadesico?" Akito's razor fell into the sink. A thin line of blood formed on his as face some of the jumbled pieces in his mind fell into place. It was far from clear yet, but it was indeed clearer.

"Akito?" The concern in Kagura's voice was genuine as she grabbed a towel and pressed on the small wound. As he raised his hand to cover Kagura's he caught a glimpse of the circuit embedded into his right hand.

Aestivalis.

_Nadesico_.

Nergal.

"Kagura-san, do you have a picture of this _Nadesico_?"

"H-hai," Kagura replied, slightly frightened at the force in his voice as she ran into the bedroom to retrieve some P.R. materials which she remembered had pictures of the ship on them. Of course, she never had to worry about him getting violent, he was only human after all, but...

Akito wiped the shaving cream from his face and followed her. She grabbed some papers from her desk and handed them to him. He thumbed through them quickly until he found the picture that she had remembered. It was close to the ship that he saw in his mind, but not exactly. Could he be thinking of an earlier version of the ship? One odd thought stuck in his mind.

"Do you happen to have a picture of its captain?" Kagura was relieved to hear the fierceness leave his voice.

"No, my love, unfortunately I don't. Come with me to the docks though, we may get to see both the captain and the new Nergal chair. They announced him onboard the ship, but general news of who he is hasn't leaked out yet. Come with me today, love."

"Hai." Akito nodded, but suddenly was unable to return her affection for him. Something was gnawing on his mind, and it wasn't a Ceti Eel.

// \\

_Next up, Akito and Ruri reunited with side orders of Tiramisu and mutiny, and it ain't on the Bounty..._


	3. Tiramisu & Mutiny

Though she was hanyou by virtue of DNA and blood transfusion, Hoshino Ruri was not known for demonic strength. She, and Inuyasha, considered her strength to be her mind. He was the fighter. Despite this, when the alarm sounded to wake her she backhanded it with a force that cracked its casing. She then rolled back over onto her side to look down at the face of her betrothed, who was pretending to still be sleeping. 

"'Hey, baka, you're not asleep,'" she stated, propping her head up on her hand.

'Nope, I'm not asleep. Something on your mind?' the youkai replied, matching her pose.

switched entirely to the auditory channel, since she didn't feel like thinking very much. "So why do you always sleep in your kimono?" She felt and saw a very bright blush sweep across his face.

"Um, I've only done it while you've been staying with me."

"You mean to tell me...?"

"Uh huh," the redness firmly there now. "I normally don't bother with, well, pajamas. Besides, sleeping alone for over a hundred years, well..."

"Inu-kun, you don't have to answer this," Ruri started, but couldn't finish. For all of the openness and honesty they had because of the broken barriers between their minds, they both were having problems broaching the subject.

Inuyasha moved to sit cross-legged before the hanyou. "Yes, I do." His head stared down at the point where his legs crossed. "Kagura only understood the youkai way of doing things. Sex among youkai is only for mating. Most of us really are little more than evolved animals, like centipede and spider youkai. She was curious about human emotions, and one of otou-san's hobbies is old movies."

"But, Inu-kun, I _know_ you love me. Don't youkai normally love?"

"Actually, Ruri-chan, most don't. Sure, all youkai know pleasure, pain, fear, even hate. But *love* isn't something that's natural in youkai, with the obvious exception of the descendants of Inutaishou."

"So, why did you two..."

"Well, she was questioning the concept of love, and trying to understand it. You see, I did feel love, of a far weaker sort than between us, for her, but because she did not understand love, she saw me simply as ally and potential mate. That's not exactly accurate, but the closest analogy unless you've grown up with the youkai concepts." He was sifting thoughts and concepts through her mind trying to explain but they really didn't help. Ruri just accepted his words.

"It's a little stereotypical and grade-schoolish what happened. At that point in time, neither of us had anything profession-wise going on, so we ended up watching the romance section of father's film collection for..." Ruri heard his mind count the calls to the pizza parlor. "... six days straight without sleeping. At the end, we were both close to exhaustion and, frankly, I was quite frustrated. About the only thing that she had gotten straight was that sexuality in humans wasn't simply for procreation."

Ruri didn't bother to stifle the giggle. 'You, as a sex-ed teacher?'

"'Baka' is an understatement about it. Trying to explain a concept to her which I didn't understand myself, and my only experience with which was her, didn't help matters. In the end, she wanted me to... uh..."

'You don't have to finish, baka - you're not doing a very good job controlling your mind.' She watched as the scenes played out in her head. Some of her was indeed jealous, but she thought about the conversation they had in the clearing all those years ago in Sengoku Jidai, and replayed that in her love's head. She saw as it helped him turn loose and feel more at ease with actions which were not entirely his fault. Technically, since he _was _male, it was his fault, but she shoved the thought from her head as she pulled her self into his arms.

'One more thing, Inu-kun,' Inu watched as it appeared to be Ruri's turn to blush, but he had no clue what for. There were two times when he tried to stay out of her head - when she was blushing, and when she was bathing. However, she was trying to relay ideas to him which appeared to link the two, and Inu wondered if he stank despite the fact that he did bathe daily.

Ruri laughed in his head, his silliness apparently putting her more at ease. She suddenly reached out and opened his haori and kimono.

"Oi, Ruri-chan, what are you doing?" Confusion was plain on the youkai's face as he waited for Ruri to put things into coherent thought.

Ruri's face was bright as she tried to explain. 'The first time that we came into contact with each other after you gave me your blood, even through our clothing, we rendered ourselves unconscious. I do want our wedding night to be our first time, but I'd kind of like to remember it too. Even if we've seen each other, it's only been our hands or mouths in direct contact since then.' Ruri stopped. She'd apparently explained it enough, as her actions didn't seem to be troubling him anymore, but something she said had caused more embarrassment. She sensed that he did agree with her words, so what was wrong?

'Uh, Ruri, I think we've taken different things for granted. I, um, haven't... _seen_ you.'

'Are you mad?'

'I answered that one earlier,' the youkai replied, grateful for the reprieve.

'Baka. Answer again.'

'No, I'm not mad at all. Kind of flattered, I guess, and I suppose I'm surprised, but, no, I'm not mad at you Ruri-chan.'

Ruri turned in his lap so that she was facing the same way he was and pulled her pajama top off. He shrugged his haori and kimono off and let her roll back against him until they were both staring at the ceiling. He wrapped his arms around her and felt the coolness of her stomach under his arms as they let their minds swim deeper inside of each other as they grew closer.

// \\

"When does it happen?"

"As soon as those damn suits are off the ship. We're supposed to dock with a station today and drop them off."

"Why not before? It seems that they'd make good hostages."

"This ship's worth more on the black market than all their heads combined, including our new pretty-boy chairman. Besides, I don't want to deal with the whining."

"Just so long as _she_ isn't hurt."

"You still pining for that bitch?" the first conspirator needled. "That bastard's loaded, and they're so damn lovey-dovey he'll stay on the ship 'til it gets back to Earth."

"So I kill him when we take over the ship."

"Hari, you're a dumbass. You're key to doing this and I don't give a damn about your reasons, but you're a god-damned dumbass if you think killing him will get you farther with her. It's just going to turn him into a martyr for the bitch."

// \\

Inutaishou Inuyasha stood with his hands behind his back next to the vice-admiral. They both knew that they had no real purpose on the bridge at this point, but they had nothing better to do while the ship docked. The captain and her crew smoothly ran through the drill, all of them glad to soon be rid of the whining from the decks below.

As the last clamp locked into place, the bridge crew collectively sighed in relief. It wasn't that docking was difficult; it was just tedious. There were countless places in docking a vessel of _Nadesico_'s size where a miscalculation would cause the ship to punch a rather costly hole into the artificial habitat. Granted, the newer colonies and stations could automatically guide a ship in, but this wasn't one of those ports.

'Five hours of nothing, Inu-kun. What do you want to do?'

As if to answer the question, Dean's face appeared beside Inuyasha in a terminal window. "Nii-san, the proprietor of the boarding house Nergal rented is extending nee-san and yourself a dinner invitation. Nothing's on your calendar unless you want me to Wesley Crusher this for you."

'You up for it, Ruri?'

'First, 'Wesley Crusher this for you'?'

'Who's the master when it comes to making up some shit?'

Ruri sighed. 'Baka.'

// \\

Inuyasha, Ruri, and Greg (who happened to be Front at the time) arrived early at the restaurant they had been told to meet their host at and were shown to a rather spacious lounge by the maitre'd. Inuyasha and Ruri, neither being particularly fond of alcohol, had tea while Greg had tequila in deference to his hometown.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Ruri suddenly felt her love tense and through his mind sensed why. Another youkai was nearby. She saw Greg reach inside his jacket and loosen his ever-present sidearm, apparently noticing the tensing of his boss's body that she felt in her mind.

Inyasha stood, and Ruri and Greg followed suit. Ruri knew that the presence was coming into the room. She watched as the door opened and a tall, distinguished woman in a kimono walked in followed by-

"A-Akito-san?!"

"Kagura?!"

Following the two exclamations was an uncomfortable silence which left Greg with the even more uncomfortable position of standing in between the two couples. The ever unflappable head waiter, however, coolly walked in and announced that their table was ready.

The group stoically followed the maitre'd to their table. Ruri wasn't sure if she should hug Akito, punch him for making Yurika worry, or bitchslap the bastard for cheating on Yurika with Inu's ex.

'Oi, Ruri-chan, was that last thought yours or mine?'

Ruri blushed slightly at forgetting Inu was in her head and took his arm. 'I think it was mine.'

'That's what I thought. I remember my opinion being a lot more violent.'

'My prince, ever my protector,' Ruri teased, managing a smile despite the seriousness of the situation.

'Well, you are a princess after all.'

'Baka.' Their banter was making her feel better, at least. She paused to let him help her into her chair. 'Inu-kun, do I have to invite them to the wedding? My 'royal' parents, I mean.'

'I met your 'birth' father once. The answer is, fucking hell no,' he replied, taking his own seat.

The waiter leaned slightly between their heads. "May I get sir and madam a drink? Iced tea? a glass of wine?"

Inuyasha looked across the table at the most unlikely pairing he could think of. 'Hime-chan, this is for your own good.' "Two iced green tea and two Shiner Bock." 'I think we need a beer.'

'Hai.'

The waiter took the other three's drink orders, either unaware of Ruri's age or choosing to ignore it. Inuyasha felt eternally grateful to Greg for ending up with the seat between himself and Kagura. In a perfect world, they'd have had a rectangular table, but because there were five of them they had been seated at a round table. Thus, Ruri was allowed to sit by Akito, Akito by Kagura, and Inuyasha by Ruri. The relative silence continued as everyone studiously read their menus. The only comments passed around the table until the menus were taken away were about the size of the portions and what was good and what wasn't. The menus gone, the table lapsed once again into an uncomfortable silence.

Kagura was the first to break the silence. "So, you're the new chairman. I suppose you're still your father's pet puppy."

Ruri's eyes narrowed further than Greg would ever see, and were matched only by the look she gave Hakushin. She wouldn't have held her tongue had Inuyasha not spoken first. "Whether I am Otou-sama's pet or his son is irrelevant. The chairman's seat was earned by myself, and was my idea. Though it is none of your business, Sesshoumaru-sama was against the idea."

"And why would that be? It brings power to the family of Inutaishou, and power appears to be all that the fool thinks of. He cares not for the affairs of others."

"It was for the affairs of others that he desired our separation. Though it pained me to do so at the time, I saw the reasoning of Father. The idea of strong youkai breeding with strong youkai to create beings such as ourselves has no place in this world. Though my skills and strengths as a youkai are a match for even my revered grandfather, it is not through their use that I prosper in this world. What prosperity I have is earned by living as a human, though, frankly, I don't care if I'm rich or broke. There is one thing which is rare in youkai, and which is all that truly matters in this existence. I would hope that in spending time with a soul like that which belongs to Akito-san you've come to better understand it."

Ruri didn't say anything aloud but was forced to admit that if Kagura was to learn of human love, Akito was certainly a better choice of teacher than her previous "sensei". Akito's passions were one of the things about him which caused her to care deeply for the pilot. However, she would have preferred Kagura to learn of love from Akito by watching him with Yurika instead of, well, _this_.

Kagura smirked at the inu-youkai's words. "And how would you yourself know about love? Hmm? You certainly put other things before love when you cast me away. Your words now do not match your actions then. And I do not think you could learn about love from such a passionless trophy as you're walking around with. If you two even consider yourselves 'together.'"

Ruri leaped to her feet, almost knocking her dinner from the hands of her waiter. "How DARE you-"

'Osuwari! She's trying get under your skin.'

Ruri froze for a moment, and slowly lowered herself back into her seat as the waiter set their fish before them. 'You're just going to let her say that about us? About you?'

'No, I'm not. But I'm not going to attempt an argument with her now. We have more important questions to answer at the moment.' "Kagura, such a conversation does not need to be conducted over dinner. Indeed, you obviously did not know that I am the chairman of Nergal. I also believe that had you known it was me you would be dining with this evening, you would not have made such a request."

"Humph. I merely wished to show my gratitude to Nergal for sending clients my direction."

"Then let us change the conversation into a more pleasant direction." Inuyasha sipped his beer, relaying to Ruri its taste, as she had yet to imbibe.

'You certainly have unique taste in beverages.'

'Hai.'

Conversation returned to a forced chatter as the group worked on their meals. Once the plates were almost empty, Inu chose to broach a more serious topic of conversation. "Akito-san, you've been very quiet this evening. If I may ask, are you recovering your memory?"

"H-how did you know I lost it?"

"It's been over two years since you've seen Ruri-chan or Yurika-san. As close as the three of you were, I would assume you lost at least some memory. If such isn't the case, then I'll kill you where you sit for the pain you've caused them." Inu silently cursed himself for letting the last part slip out, but felt Ruri's mind echoing his sentiments.

Akito stared down at his plate, trying to summarize what he did and didn't remember. "I know I served for a while on the _Nadesico_, and I think you," he said, looking at Ruri, "were the computer operator. Did I meet your father too?"

Ruri nodded, encouraging him on.

"But we weren't romantically involved, I know. There is someone else I remember, with long, blue-black hair and green eyes. Was she the Kanchou?"

"Hai." Ruri wanted to ask if he remembered marrying Yurika, but instead decided to ask, "Do you remember Inu-kun?"

Akito stared at the chairman, trying to remember. He knew he looked familiar, but was obviously trying to place him. The waiter caught the lull in conversation and, noting that everyone had finished their plates, began swapping dinner plates for dessert.

"I don't know, Kanchou. I feel like I should know him, but I just can't place him. I'm sorry, Hoshino-san."

Ruri stared down at the brown and ivory dessert before her, feeling slightly depressed.

'Ruri-chan, it's okay. I think all of his memories are there, they just have to be unlocked. Wait for fullness and eat your sweets, dearest.'

'Hai,' she responded glumly. She took a bite of the confection in front of her and her face involuntarily scrunched. 'Inu-kun, it tastes like coffee.'

'Has hime-chan not had tiramisu before? It _is_ coffee.'

Ruri began scraping off and eating the mousse, avoiding the bottom half and ignoring the smile from her fiance. Greg began valiantly trying to resurrect some conversation among the table, but didn't get very far. Inuyasha slowly ate his dessert while pondering over the situation with Ruri. He watched as she finished off the upper half of her Tiramisu, and then with youkai speed switched the plates.

"Baka."

"Hey, I see that smile, hime-chan. I also don't see you shoving it back my way, either."

"Baka." If there were any question earlier her tone had been teasing him, it was gone now.

They finished their plates and Kagura begrudgingly paid the bill. The five made their way out the restaurant and stood outside.

"Kagura and Akito-san, there is something I am compelled to offer you," Inuyasha began. "The _Nadesico_ departs in a while. The two of you may come with us." Ruri blinked, startled at the offer but wanting Akito to accept. "Tenkawa-san, traveling with us back to earth and meeting those you knew in your former life would be the best way to recover your lost memories, in my opinion. I also doubt that you know why your memories were lost, and I am obviously in a position to offer resources which can track down what happened for you." Ruri blinked, remembering the file they'd both been afraid to read.

Kagura remained indignant. "And why should we accept this offer and trust you?"

Inuyasha returned her stare with one which could force the mightiest of youkai to back down. "Because he is someone whom is very dear to my betrothed." Ruri blushed and wrapped her hands around Inu's arm, causing Kagura and Akito to notice the rock on her fist. She looked down at it as well. _Were people really so stupid that they could miss an engagement ring that big?_

'Hai, Ruri-chan, they are,' Inuyasha returned and then continued aloud. "However, Akito-san, as one who is about to be married, I must inform you of a choice you are about to make. Either path may cause a woman who loves you great pain. If you remain here, you will be happy with Kagura, but will break the heart of a woman on Earth. As a youkai, I would consider such actions the weakest way out. If you return to Earth with us, you may forsake Kagura. Misumaru-san loves you dearly, and you loved her just as dearly. I suggest you board the _Nadesico_ with us. There are a few more weeks of patrol and then the ship will return to earth. If after confronting your past, you both wish to return here, then do so with clear conscience."

Akito looked at Kagura, whose face was betraying no emotion at this point. His gaze turned to the men present. Greg was tapping on a handheld, the chairman not-so-patiently waiting for his response. He looked at the final member of the group and her pleading eyes. The decision was made.

"Hai. I have to know what happened." His stance was firm, the Akito that Ruri remembered. "One question though. You called yourself 'youkai.' Why?"

The chairman smiled and turned to walk back to the ship. "You'll remember someday. To answer your question, though, it's because I am. I am also not the only youkai here. Hope she told you by now."

Kagura grabbed the fan Akito had always seen her carry and coiled the arm that held it around her body as if it were a sword. "How dare you tell him that if I have not told him yet?!"

Inu's ice-filled response would have brought a tear of pride to his father's eyes. "How dare you NOT tell me that Naraku was your father?" The shock on the female youkai's face brought a rather evil smile to Ruri's face. "If you truly do love Akito-san, you will do two things. You will tell him the entirety of your past, which you neglected to make myself realize, and you will go with us."

Kagura's steel gaze attempted to match Inu's. "I have a business to run."

"Greg."

"On it. No worries ma'am." Greg punched a few keys on his handheld. "Done. I've got a Nergal temp arriving at your place in a few minutes to take over business. Any problems will be relayed through myself or Dean. Nii-san, Tenkawa-san also runs a restaurant. Shall I make similar arrangements?" Akito openly gaped at the efficiency. _This guy worked for Nergal?_

"Every once in a while I remember why the hell I keep you Lackeys around. Make it so."

"Um, sir? I think only Nee-san is in a position to say that line."

"Baka."

"Hai."

The return to the ship was uneventful. They stopped by Kagura's boarding house on the way so that the two new passengers could hurriedly pack some things. After leaving her residence, Kagura fumed most of the way to the ship, complaining quietly to Akito-san of how Nergal couldn't run her business as well as she could. Greg pounded out some reports he'd been putting off, and Ruri and Inuyasha were just being engaged. Seeing that there was still some time left, Ruri and Inuyasha walked the ship's new guests to their quarters for the trip while Greg took off to meet up with Dean.

Inuyasha waited until the door closed behind the four to broach the even more unpleasant subject at hand.

"Kagura, you hold a great deal of hostility towards myself, and by the time this trip is over you may hold more. However, there's something more important right now that only three people in this time have any ability to deal with, you, Sesshoumaru-sama, and me."

"And what might that be?" the disdain dripping from her voice.

"Do you remember how Naraku was imprisoned?"

The second youkai shrugged. "In Kanna's mirror, with Kanna's soul. I would guess it was the hanyou you're named after and his traveling companions who buried Kanna for us. I saw the grave, so I assume it was that cute Houshi who sealed the tomb."

"That agrees with all the stories I was told as a child," Inu confirmed. "Related subject. Have you heard of the archaeological find in Tokyo recently?"

"The empty one?"

"That is what the news reports. However, Sesshoumaru-sama met with the professor in charge of the dig, whose grandfather I studied under when I attended Tokyo University many years ago. There are several details not included in the evening news.

"The tomb was sealed when it was discovered. The seals were broken and a casket found inside, also sealed. Kanji on the coffin indicated its occupant was named 'Kanna.' They opened the casket to find a small girl, age ten at most, who appeared to be in a state of suspended animation, not mummification. In his haste to examine the body while still inside its resting place, one of the assistant professors let his pick fall against the mirror the body was holding at its chest. The force broke the mirror."

Kagura's eyes went wide with fright. "Naraku... no..."

"Unfortunately. Professor Urashima, who was not in the grave at the time, collected that much information from the other witnesses present. What happened next is still unknown, as all survivors were rendered unconscious suddenly."

"Was the assistant professor any help when he came to?" Akito asked.

"He, and Kanna's body, are missing. That's all Otou-san could find out. I have a feeling, Kagura, that he will try to reclaim you as wel-"

Dean's face popped into existence beside Inuyasha, cutting him off and startling him. "Bossman, we got problems. I can't raise the bridge."

Ruri's mind shifted back to captain of her ship. "Omoikane, how many people are on the bridge?"

"15, Captain."

"That's too many. What's going on? Omoikane, who is the current computer operator?"

"Answer unknown. Security protocols for login bypassed."

"Hari." She turned to Inuyasha. "He's the only one who knows enough about the system besides me to bypass anything."

"Omoikane," Inuyasha stepped in, "can you open us a channel to the bridge but make it appear that we're calling from the galley? Make sure the bridge knows it's the captain."

"Working."

// \\

"Severing ties with the station," Hari called out, for no one's benefit but his own. "Engines to full reverse."

Marcus O'Donovan, the ringleader of the conspirators, slapped Hari on the shoulder. "We'll pull this off yet, boy. Run a scan and see if you can find out if our precious captain and chairman made it back onto the ship yet."

A light blinked on the console again. Without thinking Hari checked to see who he was about to ignore, only to find the message was from the captain and coming from the galley. _Odd but whatever_ he thought as he reached to open the channel. "I think we have your answer."

Hari flipped the switch and the calm face of Captain Hoshino appeared on the screen. "Bridge, please explain why I was not properly notified that tower had given us permission to disembark."

O'Donovan leaned over Hari's shoulder into the viewframe. "They didn't missy. Now be a good girl and stay there, and we'll send an escort to bring you here to tell you how things are gonna be. Comprende?"

"I expect a full explanation upon my arrival."

The channel closed and O'Donovan gestured to two of his group. "You two get down to the galley and round up the captain. If anybody gives you shit, kill 'em." The two nodded and checked their weapons as they left the bridge.

// \\

Opinions." Ruri stated flatly.

Kill the bastards," was Kagura's response. Akito shrugged.

Inutaishou Inuyasha flicked open a personal communications device. "Front!"

Dean here. Avoid using Omoikane?"

"Hai," Ruri replied, taking the device from the youkai. "Their next step should be to lock the doors." A beep sounded in the background on the other end confirming this.

"No problem, Nee-san. Greg and I both have a rather colorful past. You guys armed?"

"Kagura is, we're not," Inuyasha said, leaning over Ruri's shoulder. "You guys know where my stuff is; in nee-san's quarters you'll find two blades and a pistol. Oh, and this suit's pissing me off. Get my fire-rat kimono and my traveling cloak out."

// \\

_Next up, fighting in the corridors, Kagura gets a little jealous, and Inu impersonates his uncle..._


	4. Shutdown Sequence Init, Shutting Down

A few minutes later they were reassembled in the chairman's quarters with Inuyasha in the bedroom hurriedly changing. Ruri outlined options standing outside the open door between bedroom and office. No point in letting Kagura know just _how_ they knew each other so well.

"The most obvious tactic would be to re-take the bridge by force," Captain Hoshino began. "However, due to the fact that the bridge is on the uppermost deck, a stray bullet could easily yield a hull breach."

"The core then?" Inuyasha asked, stepping up behind Ruri. She knew he was there, but it was still a bit of a shock to see him dressed the same as he had been in Sengoku Jidai. The black and grey cloak parted enough at the center to reveal flashes of the dark red fire-rat fur and the hint of a gun belt.

"Hai. We can control all aspects of the ship from there by tying directly into Omoikane. They also cannot override any commands issued from there. We only have a few minutes left here before they will come looking for us. I suggest we all go to the armory, secure further weapons, and then separate. One group should secure the shuttle and Aestivalis bays, the other will go Omoikane himself and secure him."

Greg spoke for everyone "Next step?"

Ruri looked to her betrothed, who nodded slightly at the unspoken thoughts. "I will shut down the engines and gravity, we will then-"

"Kill them" Kagura finished.

"Oi, been a while since you got to play youkai no kaze?" The chairman asked. "I think the point here is to avoid conflict if at all possible."

"Watching your pocketbook again?" The youkai sneered.

Inuyasha paused to maintain the coolness his side of the family considered a trademark. Ruri, however, did not. She walked up to Kagura, and though she was a whole head and shoulders taller than the petite Captain, Hoshino Ruri, Captain of the _Nadesico_, fiancee of Nergal Chairman Inutaishou Inuyasha, and long standing pacifist, punched Kagura in the jaw with a force that sent the older woman to the floor.

"Oi, Kagura, you might want to avoid pissing her off. She's the reincarnation of my uncle."

A little earlier would have been nice."

"It must have slipped my mind," the younger youkai stated, smiling at his fiance as she returned to where she was standing earlier.

"Again, a fight on the bridge will surely result in a hull breech. As I was saying," Ruri continued as if nothing had happened, "we will then sound the emergency distress beacon, and deactivate all interior locks. In order to avoid further conflict, I would suggest we pull Omoikane's drive cores and get them off the ship."

The chairman nodded, but the Lackeys suddenly were concerned. Dean spoke first. "Nee-san, I agree with you in theory, but a core shouldn't be exposed to the vacuum of space. The only way to get it off ship is in Nii-san's shuttle, and it's not big enough for both drive cores."

Inuyasha walked up to Dean and stared into his face, inches from his nose. Greg sighed rather audibly and Dean resigned to his fate of being thumped on the head. After the lump began forming, he asked the inevitable question. "Okay, bossman, what'd I say that was stupid?"

"You forgot what drives are in use on the ship right now."

Dean blinked, remembering now. "The KdT drives!"

"Bingo."

Kagura and Akito were suddenly, thoroughly lost. Reading this, Ruri explained without putting on the hat. "A standard hard drive used in a ship's computer is about the size of a hardcover book, and each stores about one double-terabyte. However, Omoikane is currently using prototype KdT drives, each storing a kilo, or thousand, double-terabytes. The drives are also only slighter larger than the laptop drives in use right now."

Lackeys' heads bobbed. Greg started with "So while Nii-san could barely pick up a normal drive core and there would be no hope of fitting it on a shuttle-"

two normal humans could easily carry one of the new cores, and we can easily fit the whole array in the shuttle," Dean finished.

// \\

O'Donovan leaned over Hari's shoulder, listening to the news from the galley. No one down there. The cooks down there hadn't seen anybody come in since the ship started moving.

"Well, find them, we know she's somewhere on the shi- SHIT!" Hari continued cursing at the empty air once occupied by the image of one of his co-conspirators.

What happened?"

"They've cut off communications systems inside the ship, they must be in the core!" Hari hurriedly attempted to key in further commands. "Ship's speed decreasing, emergency beacon's activated, and DAMMIT!"

With nothing left for him to do, Hari punched the now-worthless console.

"Get your ass down there, Hari."

// \\

Inuyasha and Kagura stared up at Ruri seated a few feet above their heads. Despite having lived through the entire computing revolution, Kagura still didn't understand anything about them and was slightly frightened by the display before her.

The part of Ruri's mind that wasn't busy with Omoikane and was paying attention to Inuyasha giggled at the youkai below her. He was staring up at her with giant puppy dog eyes, completely enthralled at the sight before him. He did have a point, though. The lines of light all over her body from the computer system did make it look like something from Tron, and her complexion and hair did lend an other-worldly aspect to it. 

The part of Inuyasha that was inherited from Sesshoumaru was slightly appalled at the display he was putting on, and wondered if there were any way his eyes could possibly get any bigger when the side inherited from his uncle proved that yes it was indeed possible. Ruri cut the gravity to 0.1g, a tenth that of earth's gravity and barely enough to keep your feet on the floor. One of the things it did not do was keep your hair pointed at the floor. Ruri's hair (and his, but he wasn't paying attention to that) swirled up around her, carried by small currents created by the army of fans scattered throughout the computer core. It was the most beautiful thing that Inuyasha had seen in his life. Ruri obviously heard him think that, as a slight blush appeared on her face.

Kagura was jealous. She really didn't have reason to be; she didn't want the youkai beside her back. Perhaps it was because she had once possessed him yet he had never admired her that openly. He had certainly admired her, but not like this. She slapped the youkai rather roughly with her fan. "We should expect visitors soon."

Hai," Inu replied, and pushed off towards the door. Kagura didn't fair as well as the younger youkai, who had spent time in zero-g environments in the past, but managed to follow him.

// \\

corridor to the room containing the computer core was one of the easiest to defend on the ship. A long corridor led to it, which T'd into one of the concentric corridor rings on the ship. One way in, one way out. The two youkai stood one bulkhead back from the T, not immediately noticeable if one simply walked past.

Kagura, bored from waiting, decided to try for conversation. "Oi, Inuyasha, how'd you two meet?"

"I don't think that matters. Has the scar returned?"

Kagura blinked. "The scar?"

Inuyasha winced inwardly at forcing the memories through his mind, not because they pained him so much as he knew they would hurt Ruri.

'It's alright, Inu.'

'Arigato, Ruri.' "Kagura, I grew up hearing tales of the Shikon-no-Tama, and after our parting spent much time with Inuyasha-sama. I am quite familiar with the ways and doings of Naraku, as well as the fact that all of his children bear his scar. However, if you bore his scar during the time we were together, I certainly would have noticed it."

Kagura's eyebrow lifted. "I'm rather surprised to hear you say it so bluntly, but then again your trophy is still playing with that computer and isn't out here with us. Indeed, after Naraku was sealed the scar disappeared. It has not returned yet."

"Good. If it does and you turn against us, I will be forced to kill you by any means necessary. Do not forget this." Kagura's eyes opened in fear. The inu-youkai sniffed the air and cracked his knuckles. "Here they come."

// \\

Hari raced to catch up with the rest of the group tasked with taking back the computer core. He had stopped back at his quarters to grab his family's sword. He'd been warned in the past to never draw the blade, but he also knew that he had no hope of defeating this Inutaishou Inuyasha with anything less than a steel blade. The chairman had easily dispatched with Hari earlier when it had been wooden swords. He rounded a corner and bolted down the final stretch of corridors leading to the core.

// \\

"Inuyasha!" Kagura floated halfway down the hallway from the younger youkai, who had looked up from the half-dozen unconscious humans floating at his waist when she called. "Youki!"

Inu righted himself with the aid of a bulkhead and sniffed the air. The scent of youki was unmistakable, belonging to a very powerful demon, but a demon this powerful would have been sensed by both Kagura and himself as soon as they were aboard ship. It was a large vessel, but not considering the distances powerful youkai could sense and be sensed from. They turned to face the corridor, Inu pulling out his bokken and Kagura her fan.

Kagura tensed, slowly growing used to low-gravity combat. It was kind of fun. Youkai strength already lessened the effect of gravity on beings such as herself and the dog demon beside her. Humans, so used to the concept of the force of gravity, were lousy at martial combat in space. She could see why they always reverted to guns and diplomats to resolve their disputes. She watched as a perfect example tumbled into their view of the connecting passageway. He couldn't have been any older than the fiancee of the puppy beside her. He was obviously having problems keeping his feet underneath him, despite the fact he obviously intended to fight them with the sword he carried. She coiled her fan around herself, preparing to strike as she was a few steps ahead of the puppy. What didn't make sense to her was the their new opponent was obviously not even hanyou, yet the scent of youki was obviously coming from him.

"Kagura, wait!" She blinked as her former lover leaped over her head and landed in front of her.

"So, since this fool wields a sword, you get to fight him?"

"It's not that. It's the sword. Hari, if you value your life, do not unsheathe it."

The human at the end of corridor smirked. "So, you're afraid of me now that I'm holding steel and all you have is that wooden thing?" He held the still-sheathed weapon in front of him with his left hand and grasped the tsuka with his right, which was the most intimidating way he could think of to stand.

// \\

From inside the core, Ruri stopped working on the shutdown procedure and stared through her love's eyes. She watched as he tossed the bokken to his offhand and his right flipped his cloak back to reveal the sidearm at his hip.

'Inu, you're not going to kill him, are you?'

'No, Ruri, but I have to stop him from drawing that blade.'

// \\

Hari thumbed loose the sword, unsure as to why his opponent was holding his sword in the wrong hand, when he realized the other hand was going for a gun. The coward. He blinked and suddenly saw a revolver aimed at his head. He saw the flash and heard the report as he began to draw the sword. Suddenly, the sword stopped moving from the sheath.

'I did it!' Inuyasha thought. Ruri understood. He'd fired into the blade, lodging the sword in the sheath with the bullet. 'Wait, no--'

It was too late. The ancient wood cracked from the strain suddenly placed on it, and because Hari continued to pull, the scabbard split and fell away from the blade. Demonic light suddenly illuminated the corridor.

"Hari, don't you know that's not a steel sword you hold? It is formed from the bones of youkai. From the evil emanating from it, it also may hold all the power of multiple demons as well."

"You trying to scare me with bedtime ghost stories, coward?" Hari roared, yet even he could not deny that something was taking hold of his mind. He held the sword aloft and prepared to strike. Why, though? He wasn't within reach of his opponent.

Inuyasha fired again, striking the sword just above the tsuba and feeling some measure of triumph as he saw the steel crack. There wasn't time for a third shot, as Hari dove at them and swung the weapon. Inutaishou barely had time to turn his back and pull his hood before the waves of energy hit him. He stumbled forward but the cloak absorbed the blast and prevented any of it from getting to Kagura. Once he felt the blow finish, he spun back around to face Hari.

Despite the fact that they obviously weren't out of danger yet, Kagura found herself wondering just what in the world the chairman's cloak was made of. The bulkheads around them were scorched but there wasn't a single scratch anywhere on it she could see.

She let herself float up beside Inu, and saw their opponent's face for the first time since he had drawn his weapon. The expression was one of undiluted malice, one that she had never thought a human capable of generating. The blade had obviously taken control of him, much like Sesshoumaru's sword was reputed to be able to do. She watched as her former lover drew to fire a third shot at the possessed weapon.

Hari's mind reeled with the power he now held in his hands. He should have used this in his first battle. The fool wouldn't even attack him with the little wooden sword he was holding. The possessed mind watched as its opponent drew his gun again. The fool had missed him with his first two shots, why would the third? He held the blade aloft so that its demonic glory permeated the area.

"Coward! Why won't you come at me with your stick like a man instead hiding behind a gun like a boy!"

Inu smiled ice at his opponent. "Who says I'm fighting you? You're being very helpful, however. Arigato, baka." As the last word sneered past his lips, he squeezed the trigger. The round flew from the lengthy barrel and hurtled towards Hari, striking his sword just above the tsuba and slicing through the blade.

// \\

Ruri's hands paused over Omoikane's master console, watching what was happening outside through her love's eyes. She watched with relief as the evil left Hari's face as soon as the blade broke.

'Ruri-chan, I'm not proud of what I'm about to do. In fact, I'm ashamed, but it must be done and Kagura is not the one to do it. I swear to you on the grave of my grandfather and my love for you that I will not kill him.'

'Anata, I trust you.'

'Arigato, koishii. I'm going to block my mind from you. Please don't try to see what happens.'

'Hai, koi. I love you.'

'I love you too, koishii'

In the hallway, Inu spun the heavy frame into its holster and replaced his bokken at his side. He could smell the fear coming from Hari but knew that the human wouldn't accept defeat. He let his blood flow into his eyes, burning them with the fire of Sesshoumaru.

"I came to you seeking to fight a fair battle, and you pulled a gun on me! What kind of coward does that? You're cheating to keep Ruri!"

Inu held out his left hand slightly away from his side and let the golden whip of his father come forth, letting it float lazily in the air for a few seconds before flicking it towards Hari. It wrapped around the fragment of the katana Hari still held and with a practiced snap of the wrist the fragment flew from his opponent's hand."

"Tell me, baka, what was the name of your weapon?"

"It's a sword, not a person!"

"That does not answer my question, and yet it does, doesn't it?" He flicked the whip dangerously close to Hari's face. As expected, in dodging the whip Hari lost his balance and found himself unable to get his feet back under him.

"One does not simply happen upon a cursed blade, and no such blade has been forged in the past several hundred years." Another practiced twist of his wrist wrapped the glowing whip around Hari's neck. The youkai yanked the whip and threw the human towards himself, catching Hari by the neck with the hand which a few moments ago possessed the weapon. He applied just enough force to make breathing uncomfortable for Hari. Hari struggled in vain against the iron claws.

"So," the inu youkai continued as if having a fireside chat, "I must assume it's been handed down through your family. Yet you don't know the blade's name. Probably don't know its history either, do you?"

Inuyasha sniffed the air, ignoring the struggling beside him. The youki hadn't disappeared. Well, one more way to scare Hari back onto the straight and narrow. He walked out into the connecting corridor where the blade was floating, still carrying the struggling human. The broken blade was still glowing, its greenish tint magnifying instead of diminishing. He held Hari where both could see the terror unfolding in front of them. The mists around the blade slowly solidified and took on a grotesque humanoid shape.

"Blooood," it croaked hoarsely. "Fellow youuukai, giiive to me that huuuman, his blood is fressssh."

"What? What is that?" Hari asked, matching the croak in its coarseness.

"That," replied the chairman flatly, "is what you sought to use against me."

"What a foooolish mortal he issss, isn't heeee?" the newcomer retorted. "Tell me, fellow youkaaaai, what your name isssss, and we shall consssuuume theeese... pitiful... fools." The last three words were spat with such disgust that Inuyasha was surprised that a few moments before it had wanted human blood. His face formed the family smirk.

"You are not worthy of knowing my name. You're a fool who got himself trapped in a poorly-forged blade. I will tell you my grandfather's name, however, so you may tremble as you go forth unto hell. My grandfather was Inutaishou, father of Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha and friendly to humans."

He pulled the bokken from his waist and pointed it at the unnamed opponent. "And now, go to hell." Sesshoumaru's poison claw formed on his right hand, and hurtled down the bokken toward the barely-formed youkai as if fired from a rifle. It hit the being in its chest and caused it to explode and dissipate into the air, the only remnant of it being a scream it uttered as it died which resounded throughout the ship.

Inu slipped the bokken back to its home at his side, and then flung Hari roughly into the wall opposite them. "Do you see now? You are not an opponent to me, and I have no desire to fight you." He leaped forward and grabbed Hari's hair and forced the human to look him in the face. "You say you fight me to claim Captain Hoshino as your own. Do you know why I continue to fight you?"

Hari tried to sneer. "For the same reason I do, baka," he snorted.

The youkai laughed and released Hari's head. "You've spent at least two years around Ruri-chan, and you still don't know how to use that word. Let me tell you a secret." He leaned close to Hari's face and stared into his eyes. "Even now, if Ruri decided that she wanted you over me, I would let her do so, and love her no less than I do now. Do you see now? And can you say the same?"

// \\

Greg, Dean and Akito all looked up when the scream sounded. When the scream stopped, the first two resumed their tasks of preparing the shuttle for departure, but Akito stood at the door of the craft, staring at the empty bay around them.

"Wh-what was that?"

Dean stepped past him into the hanger, his lighter flaring to life in front of a cigarette. "Youkai death scream," he said calmly around the lit tobacco.

"WHAT? Demon? I thought Inutaishou-san was joking when he said he and Kagura were youkai..."

Dean stared at him and blinked. He slowly closed the lighter and inhaled the fumes he had created. "I thought you knew... oh, yeah, that's right. Greg told me, memory loss. Well, nii-san said to trust you, and there's a rather short list of people he says that about. So yes, Inutaishou Inuyasha is a cross between youkai no inu, Sesshoumaru, and youkai no mizu. And if I understand correctly, Kagura is youkai no kaze, based on what nii-san said to her back in his quarters."

"What?!"

"Buddy, half the stories you heard as a kid were true, and you didn't even know it, did you?"

The full impact of previous conversations hit Akito and sent him down to the ground with a pronounced thud.

Dean pulled the lit cigarette from his mouth. "Oi, Greg! Gimmie a hand getting Tenkawa-san to a shuttle couch."

Greg stuck his head from the craft and looked down at the inert form. "Guess he didn't accept what you just told him. Kinda surprising. He never struck me as the fainting type. Oh well."

// \\

Ruri blinked and looked up from the master console when the scream sounded. She reached out with her mind and found that Inu was still there and safe, so she knew she didn't have to worry. She looked around her at the chamber, watching the lights dim as she stopped Omoikane's processes one by one. A few minutes later she heard the door to the chamber open behind her and felt Inu's mind open back up to her own.

'Gomen, Ruri-chan. I know it isn't easy to do this to Omoikane. But it's the only way to protect him.'

'I know, Inu-kun. Knowing that doesn't make it easier.'

'Hai.'

Kagura, not having the benefit of hearing the conversation, stared up at Ruri's saddened face. "What is wrong with you, child? Your lover has been out fighting for you and--"

"Baka." Kagura looked over to see Inuyasha opening up an access panel on the other side of the room. "You think her pain is from what was going on out there? Shutting down Omoikane isn't like shutting down the computer in your office." He punched in some access codes and pushed the wall to drift to the other side of the room. "Omoikane isn't the name of the operating system of this vessel, it's the name of its AI."

Kagura blinked. "Ey, ai?"

It was Inuyasha's turn to stare. "Artificial Intelligence? Look at it this way. We both know from experience that a being has both a soul and a body, correct?" Kagura nodded and he continued. "Most computers are just a body. You pull their strings, they do things for you. The things people do every day don't require you to pull very many strings in a computer, so they're never aware of what's going on inside. It doesn't matter to them if it's sentient or not. Frankly, for most purposes, it's better that way.

"However, on a ship like this you don't necessarily want to pull every string necessary to make the computer do what you want it to. Thus, you give the computer its own soul, which on the _Nadesico_ is named Omoikane. When you shut down an AI, you are in effect killing it as surely as if you had pulled the soul out of human. Sure, the body's fine, but you have to pull every string yourself to get it to work. The analogy is crass, but it's akin to the manipulations of Naraku versus the puppeteering of Yura of the Hair."

Kagura was able to grasp that, and she looked back up at Ruri, the lines across her fading, making it appear almost as if she were illuminated by candlelight instead of the display they had seen earlier in the room. Hearing a hissing behind her, the kaze youkai turned to see Inu pulling open a two-story access panel.

"Are these the drives?" She marvelled up at the twin cylinders before her.

"Not the ones we're carrying. These are the old ones, but if we don't destroy them Hari can reroute power and processes to them and restart the ship systems onto full automatic." 'Koishii, where are we at?'

'I have to flash the RAM to tape then wipe the areas reserved for Omoikane. I can do it without interruption to the systems we're leaving up. That's it though. Inu, how are we going to disembark? We'll have no bay control.'

' 'Youkai don't live a thousand years by trusting everybody.' It doesn't look it and won't show up on any cursory examination, but that shuttle could beat an Aesti to a pulp if it had to. We just gotta make sure we seal the shuttle bay before we leave, because until Omoikane's back up, ain' nobody re-pressurizing that area.'

Ruri nodded then spoke aloud. "Flash from RAM to tape done. Unmounting tapes." 

Kagura jumped as yet another panel popped open and fifty backup tapes simultaneously ejected from their drives. Ruri hopped/floated down from the operator's station and grabbed a nearby case and boxed the backups.

"Oi, Ruri-chan," Inu said over her shoulder. "I can't believe I never asked you this. Did you pick up any extra youkai powers from the transfusion?"

Ruri blinked up at him, pausing momentarily before she shut the case of tapes. She stood and collected the swords which she'd laid by the station when they came in. "I don't think so. I've never felt anything different."

Inu smiled slightly and jerked a thumb towards the outdated drives. "Now's the time to find out if you want to."

Kagura smirked as the Captain walked up to the two cores. _There's no way a human could inflict serious damage on the units._

'Inu, what do you expect me to do? I mean, sure I can do Kaze no Kizu, but that would damage more than just the cores.'

He stepped up beside his fiancee. 'Something like this.' "SANKON TESSOU!"

When he landed back next to Ruri, the deep scars on the upper area of one of the cores was plainly visible. Those drives were now useless. Ruri timidly walked up to the undamaged core. She felt Inuyasha in her mind, shepherding her arm into motion as she moved her well-manicured nails towards the unit. "Sankon Tessou!"

Kagura blinked in surpirse. It was nowhere near that of either the hanyou Inuyasha or the youkai Inuyasha, but it was still the last thing she expected to see from what she considered nothing more than a timid trophy fiancee.

Inuyasha smiled as she returned to where he was standing and extended his hand to her. 'Now, let's finish this.'

Ruri took his hand. Despite the fact that their relationship had matured, "nii-chan" kicked in as she felt a wave of pride from him at her accomplishment. 'Baka. It wasn't that impressive. Not compared to yours.'

He leaped towards the ceiling, bringing her up with him. 'I'm not comparing you to me. You're Ruri, not Inuyasha.'

'Baka. What are we doing up here?' She caught a conduit running on the ceiling to keep from drifting back to the floor.

Inu pulled his bokken from his side. 'Splitting firewood.' He caught a sideways glance from her. 'Just worry about chopping yours in half with Tetsusaiga, don't worry about me breaking this.'

Kagura stared in disbelief as Hoshino pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath. She'd mistaken it for just another battered sword, but seeing it out she remembered the blade well. She fully awoke to the fact that this was indeed the reincarnation of the Inuyasha she had known and fought in Sengoku Jidai. She watched as the two propelled themselves towards the cores and drove their blades through them, splitting the cores from top to bottom. She only remembered to blink once the two had sheathed their weapons and walked back up to her. Her normal demeanor quickly re-asserted itself.

"What, not going to save any destruction for me? How selfish."

Ruri gestured towards a large steel locker in the fourth corner of the room. "Baka. Those are the rest of the backup tapes for rotation. They must all be destroyed."

The fan opened and Kagura swiped at the box, letting her air blades mutilate the box and its contents into bite-sized pieces. For extra show, she then proceeded to mutilate the leftovers into bit-sized pieces. Ruri, however, missed the show as she was visiting the first panels that Inu had popped open. A series of commands opened the drive vault itself from which Inu pulled the two cores which constituted Omoikane's drive array.

"Let's get these puppies off ship so there's no chance of bringing things back up before the conspirators are dealt with."

Ruri nodded and stopped to key in a final series of commands at a secondary terminal. "There. All accounts are locked except for Lisette and Haruko, who don't have admin or operator access."

"It'd be a liability to Saburouta if he could still access anything," her love agreed.

// \\

_Next up, a bit of the old ultra-violence in old Mexico..._


	5. A Bit of the Old UltraViolence

_Author's note..._

_My apologies in advance for this chapter. Had a pang of conscience over the language so that got scaled back. Hence, one of the big jokes for the chapter kind of falls on its face. But anyways. If anybody wants the, er, fouler, chapter, shoot me an email at the profile in my address. You know, it's kind of ironic that I scaled back the language in this chapter but the violence coming up in 8 doesn't bug me at all. Whatever. Just consider this a warning for that bit coming up. :)_

// \\

The Lackeys in the shuttle bay had been getting a little impatient for the other half of their group to show up. Greg watched as Inu, Ruri and Kagura finally came floating in. The youkai each held a drive array in tow, and Ruri carried a shielded case that Greg assumed were a set up backups of Omoikane in the event something screwed up with the drives. "Oi, Dean, get Tenkawa-san up. Showtime."

In the shuttle, Dean leaned over Akito's face lightly and rapped the younger man's skull with his knuckles. "Yo, Tenkawa-san"

Akito's mind lazily dragged itself back into reality, and his half-opened eyes discerned a figure leaning over him. His mind wished that it were either Kagura or the blue-haired beauty he saw in his mind's eye. Reality was unfortunately harshly different, causing Akito to yelp as soon his eyes focused which resulted in both men jumping half out of their skin.

Greg stuck his head back in the shuttle. "Glad to see you're finally awake again." The Lackey draped himself over the back of the shuttle couch Akito was laying on. "I hear you're one helluva pilot, care to fly this rig outta here for us?"

"Er, no thanks."

"You sure? She doesn't look it, but this box is hella fun to fly." Greg shrugged. "Your call though. You're welcome to the pilot's seat if you want it. Dean, get it in gear, I gotta bad feeling about _Nadesico_ right now."

The two Lackeys moved outside of the shuttle, leaving Akito alone for the moment. The pilot stood up, against the opinions of his inner ear and headed towards the shuttle door. He was greeted with the typical chaos of departure preparation, which was surprising when he considered the fact that there were only six people on the deck including himself.

Akito watched as, despite never having packed two IPSCSI arrays into a shuttle, Kagura was rendering her opinion to Inu and Ruri as to how to get the units into the shuttle. Dean was bouncing like Myouga the flea over the craft doing the paranoid pilot thing. Greg was headed towards the control booth, ostensibly to manually seal off the bay with the ship's AI in a state of non-existence. A seventh person was-- seventh?

"Kanchou! Inutaishou-san!"

The lovers and Kagura turned towards Akito's voice. The new arrival was out of Kagura's line of sight, and Inu's view of him was blocked by Ruri's swirling hair. Ruri, however, did notice in her periphery the seventh party and immediately recognized the shape of an automatic weapon pointed in their direction. She didn't think nor did she wait for her beloved's guidance; she merely reacted. She dove towards the intruder and let her left hand drop the long-unused wakizashi at her side. As she pulled the weapon out with her off hand and held it dagger-style she felt the blood surge in her veins and fire fly into her eyes.

The intruder was shocked at the display before him, never having seen his captain like this before. He stared dumfoundedly as she coiled her right hand against her shoulder. When she was within arm's reach of her opponent she sliced back-handed against the weapon he was holding, carving off the barrel and knocking it from his hands. The would-be assassin raised his hands in fear as Ruri slashed forward with her now-canine claws.

Pain seared through his shoulder and he dropped to his knees as hard as is possible in such weak gravity. His victim-turned-attacker stood before him, her right hand still raised near her face and ready to either attack again or defend. Small droplets of his blood floated in the air around them as small currents carried her hair around her, lacing it through and around her clawed fingers.

Ruri replaced Hanyou's Protector in its home, never taking her eyes off of the fool in front of her. As her blood returned to normal the fire left her eyes and was replaced by deep sadness at what she had just been forced to do.

"Do you really hate him that much?" She asked.

Grinding his teeth against the pain in his shoulder, he snarled his reply. "He's taking you from me, what do you expect me to do?"

Ruri welcomed Inu's presence as he gracefully floated up beside the two and cut into the conversation. "Baka. She is not property. She is not a prize. This is not Sengoku Jidai. We do not fight for mates."

"Hari, you are indeed a fool. I would suggest you clear out of here now, because not even youkai can stand the vacuum of space." Both turned and walked away from him, letting Hari decide for himself if he wanted to live or die.

When they returned back to the shuttle, they found Greg had left the booth to rejoin them and saw Dean headed towards the control booth instead. Inu raised an eyebrow and looked at his Lackey, awaiting explanation.

"Um, nii-sama, nee-sama, we would like to beg a favor. Tenkawa-sama is a pilot, and accomplished one as well, and... er."

The Chairman of Nergal's eyebrow lifted a notch higher. "I suppose it would make sense to leave someone here to aid the crew which hasn't taken after the Botany Bay. Oi, Dean!" He raised his voice at the last part.

"Ha--hai, nii-sama?"

"Drop the 'sama' crap. Which one?"

"S-sir?"

"Answer the question, and then don't ask my permission, ask nee-san's. It's her ship and if you're leaving me to become her crew, she damn well better approve it."

"Uh, Williams Haruko, sir. Captain Hoshino Ruri, I request permission to board the _Nadesico_ as a member of her crew, sir. Sir."

Despite the pain of Hari, Ruri managed a small laugh that only Inu managed to catch. 'Maybe you were right about cracking down on fraternization. Looks like you're going to have to find someone else as a date for otou-san at the wedding.'

'Hai. Well, make the call, Kanchou.'

Ruri took a step towards the control booth. "I accept your offer, and request that you take care of Hari and his wounds as your first duty. Your second duty is to retrieve the file I left on the bridge about Akito-san's and Yurika-san's kidnapping. Try to co-ordinate with existing crewmembers to reclaim the ship with minimal losses."

Dean, who had never spent a day in the military, fired off an over-dramatized salute and walked over to collect Hari's still-bleeding-and-headed-towards-unconscious form. He dragged Hari with him back to the control booth in order to seal himself and Hari's slumped form in against the impending vacuum as Akito begrudgingly mounted the pilot's chair next to Greg in the craft's nose.

// \\

Sesshoumaru looked up from his screens when the doorbell sounded. Grateful for the reprieve from hours of unproductive digging on the subject of Naraku, he headed for the front door. The doorbell impatiently sounded again as he reached the door. Upon opening the entry he was unsure as to what the proper reaction should be. Whomever it was had leaped at him the moment the door was open and wrapped itself around Sesshoumaru in a vice-like embrace. Herself, Sesshoumaru corrected, based upon how things were pressing against him. This was either a very well-formed woman or a very malformed man. His guest's scent finally wafted up to him (3 seconds can be an eternity to a glomp's unwitting victim), and The Lord of The Western Lands chided himself for thoughts running through his head. It was the adoptive mother of his soon-to-be daughter.

The Laws of Icy Youkai required that Sesshoumaru disengage himself from her expeditiously and with poise. However, two things caused him to disregard the code he helped create. First, he was the only one in the house, so the transgression could be easily denied. Second, she was crying. The line of Inutaishou was one of the strongest to ever grace the face of the earth. Yet a crying female, particularly one who had been welcomed into the family, had the ability reduce any of the men of the family to putty. Luckily, it seemed that none of the females welcomed into said family caught onto this fact. Upon reflection, Sesshoumaru decided that Hoshino had indeed caught onto this fact, but doubted she'd abuse the ability.

Thus the mighty Sesshoumaru somewhat uncomfortably let his arm wrap around the woman to comfort her, showing a facet of his capabilities as father he had not shown since Rin was alive. He held her there until the tears subsided and she was able to regain control of herself. He led her to the smaller of the two living areas in the house and prepared tea for his guest. Safely seated across a table from her, he sought for a way to ask the reason for her visit.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, I don't know where to turn to for help on this, so I've come to you. Ruri-Ruri and your son are in trouble."

Grateful for directness, Sesshoumaru relaxed and sipped his tea. "Not yet, Naraku will take time to reform after being imprisoned for so long, and--"

"Sesshoumaru-sama, what are you talking about?" The confusion on Yurika's face was plain. Sesshoumaru stopped, cup in mid-air, realizing that his absorption in his studies may have missed a more immediate threat. Returning himself to motion, he placed the tea back on the table.

"I see. Then perhaps we both have something to tell each other. When did you last speak to Hoshino-san?"

Gratefully, Yurika told him of their children's engagement. That was one bit of news he didn't want to have to break. Wisely, he avoided acknowledging that he knew of the impending marriage before Yurika did. Fear clouded back into her face however, when she moved onto the next subject.

"A report was handed to me this morning that I wasn't supposed to see, but I apparently still have friends in the U.E. forces. Yesterday, the _Nadesico_ docked at a station and disembarked most of the dignitaries who had gathered onto it. The report says that the Captain and Chairman had dinner offship with someone Nergal had rented rooms from, first name Kagura, no last name given." Sesshoumaru's head jerked up and his eyes widened in recognition but he held his tongue to allow her to finish.

"Shortly after Inuyasha and Ruri-Ruri made it back to the ship, the _Nadesico_ abruptly undocked itself without permission from local control. The ship apparently left using engine full power, as when the emergency beacon was picked up the ship was too far from the station for it to dispatch personnel, and the nearest battleship is still two day's flight from there." Yurika paused, not wanting to continue but having to. "The report and command believe that it was Ruri-Ruri and Inuyasha who mutinied against Nergal, and they're already calling for his resignation and hers. They believe the two of them and some of her command crew intend to sell the ship parts on the black market. They finally made contact with the ship through Hari, and he said they'd stolen the ship's experimental drive cores and shut down practically everything but life support, and... and..."

Sesshoumaru could tell she was about to break down again and decided to make an attempt at being re-assuring. "We understand our children better than anyone but they themselves. Do you believe Captain Hoshino is capable of such mutiny?"

Yurika shook her head no, and he continued. "I agree. Therefore, this 'Hari' is lying."

"But Ruri trusts him like a brother! He wouldn't! He wouldn't lie about Ruri-Ruri!"

"Woman, pull yourself together. He is either telling the truth or lying. Ruri-san and Inuyasha are incapable of doing what is attributed to them. Therefore, Hari is a liar."

Yurika was unable to argue. "What do we do now? I've tried to contact Ruri several times but there is no answer."

Sesshoumaru in his centuries upon the earth had not mastered technology, but did have some understanding. "You said that most of the ship was shut down. Would it make sense that the system which can track down individuals would also be shut down?"

Yurika understood less of technology than Sesshoumaru. However, from Ruri she had a decent grasp of Omoikane's abilities and she nodded. "So how do we contact them?"

Sesshoumaru stood and headed for the door, indicating that Yurika follow him. "We do it 'Old School'."

// \\

Kagura looked down at the sleeping form of Akito, and wondered for the hundredth time what happened to him to lose so much of his memory. Before today their lives were simple. Making sure there were enough guests to cover expenses and enough hungry people to keep the ramen shop open were all that concerned them. She had always wished for his memory to return so that he could be happy. The loss of memory had always brought pain to Akito, and Kagura understood love enough to know that she could not be happy while her lover was in pain.

However, now that she was face to face with Akito awakening to his past, she found that she was afraid of losing him. If she had to fight to keep Akito it wouldn't have been a problem, but the actions of the youkai in front of her were causing her to worry. He had intimated that despite how much he apparently cared for the weakling next to him, it was up to the weakling who would be her taker. Perhaps the son of Sesshoumaru was correct and there really wasn't a place in this era for the strong only mating with the strong.

The thoughts of the shuttle couch in front of Kagura were much less contemplative yet every bit as important to the thoughts' owners.

'Blue.'

'Baka. I know already that if blue isn't one of the colors I'll get endless grief because of my name. What _other_ colors?'

'I thought Yurika-san and you already covered this,' Inuyasha said, but focused on the issue just the same. 'Purple seems pretty predominant in my family's markings.'

Ruri reflected for a moment. 'Blue and purple. I guess that's not so bad.'

'Hime-chan, something's gnawing you. Speak up.'

Inu listened as thoughts sorted in her head. 'It's just... I don't understand why Akito lost his memory. In the incident with the Martian Successors, he had all of his memories but his body was... damaged. Now he seems much more like the Akito I first met.'

'His senses must also be returning to normal if he has opened a ramen shop on the station. Once Dean recovers the file we may have more answers.' He paused for a moment before continuing. 'Baka ourselves.'

Ruri sighed aloud. "It was very foolish of us not to read it when we had the chance," she whispered. A thought hit Ruri and she sat up and turned around to face Kagura as well as Akito's sleeping form. "Kagura-san, where is Lapis?"

"Who?"

A light on Greg's console flashed and a harsh beep emitted from the speaker system, interrupting the conversation. Inuyasha quickly moved to lean into the nose, recognizing the signal as heralding an incoming audio stream which used the older military channels. Greg answered the channel after a nod from his boss.

"Identify yourself," Greg demanded, ignoring protocol.

"Put my son on."

"What is it, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Sesshoumaru with commentary from Yurika filled his son in on the claims made against the younger youkai and his fiancee. Once the details had been given, they were faced with the decision as to what to do next.

"Return home and we'll sort things out here," was his father's reply. "Going to a U.E. or Confederate ship will just get you arrested."

Inuyasha rejected the idea. "Home is the first place they'd look. This is the last time I make such a public power play. No land registered in any of our names will be safe to hide in. Not Inutaishou, not Tenkawa, not Misumaru, not Hoshino."

"So where can you go?" was the concerned question from Yurika that the speakers emitted.

"Mey-hi-ko" was Inuyasha's response. "Specifically, El Ray. There are some... colorful... friends down there who can help. Do you have any information regarding Naraku?"

"I am afraid not, although hopefully by the time we meet I will have more."

Inuyasha looked to his love before he continued, waiting for her approval. She gave it, and he continued. "I have one item to add. You mentioned that whomever wrote the report knew that we had dinner with the proprietor of a boarding house Nergal rented rooms from for its big wigs."

On earth, Sesshoumaru looked at the mic, remembering Yurika's words. "She is the same?"

"Hai," came the reply with the slight crackle inherent to this bandwidth of communication. "She is with us, as well as... Akito."

Yurika's eyes opened wide in shock. There was no mistaking the meaning of her future son-in-law's words. She didn't listen as father and son finished the conversation. For lack of a better target, she simply stood staring at Sesshoumaru in disbelief of the words she heard.

Sesshoumaru, unaware of Yurika's temporary catatonia, shut down the old-fashioned Radio and rose to leave the room. Not paying strict attention to his surroundings, he collided with the major. Had it not been for demonic reflexes, the two would have landed in a jumbled mass on the floor. The collision, at least, brought Yurika back to reality, who looked up at the slightly taller man. "When do we leave?"

"'We' do not. 'I' leave immediately."

Yurika placed herself in the doorway and braced herself against it, clearly intending to win before allowing the youkai to leave the room. "Ruri-ruri is a daughter to me, and Akito is my husband, and I'm going with you."

Sesshoumaru, deciding that it would be wiser to not point out the fact that she stood no chance against him in a fight, responded with trademark coolness. "El Ray is not a place for someone as fair as yourself. There are many things there you had rather not know still exist in this world."

The implied compliment wasn't lost on Yurika, but she wasn't backing down. "If it's no place for me then it's no place for Ruri-chan. But she will be fine because Inuyasha will protect her, and I will be fine because you will protect me until Akito arrives and then he will protect me."

// \\

Several overly-long hours later, Sesshoumaru found himself staring at the ceiling of the airliner they were on. Had he been traveling alone, he would have been able to catch a much earlier flight. He was packed in five minutes. A toothbrush in one pocket of his robes and a towel in the other and he was good to go. Wrap Toukijin and Tenseiga for traveling and he would have been out the door.

His traveling companion, who was already asleep shortly after the plane left the ground and whose head had rolled over onto his shoulder, was an entirely different story. He had planned on only taking one of smaller cars, perhaps his M3, to the airport, but after seeing everything Yurika intended to bring he quickly changed his mind and brought the Suburban out of storage. It had taken three baggage handlers to help him check everything at curbside. All that for just a few days outside of Japan. _How did she ever handle being aboard the Nadesico?_ Sesshoumaru had lost count before they arrived at the airport the number of times he wondered why he indulged human females so much. Perhaps Yurika's innocence reminded him of Rin. Rin, however, tried to behave like a proper youkai would. She had worked hard to keep her human blood as cool as his demon blood. Yurika, however, was not the type to be kept in check. He sighed and raised his head from the headrest to stare at the papers he'd brought with him as an afterthought. It was certainly going to be an interesting trip.

// \\

Akito stretched in the pilot's chair then punched in the sequence to let the engines fire for a few more seconds to align them for entry into earth's atmosphere and to punch through the big barrier. The past several days had been nothing but floating and chatting, but for the third time in twenty minutes (so far he was able to keep count) he cursed under his breath at the stupidity of what they were about to do to finish the last leg of the journey. Seated next to him Greg laughed for the third time in twenty minutes.

"Tenkawa-san, this is the first time you've run contraband, isn't it?" Greg chided.

"N-nani?" The pilot stared in shock at the man beside him. "Contraband!"

"Guess it's good to see there are more people in this world than nee-san who manage to keep their hands clean. Well, to over use a phrase and use it incorrectly at the same time, here's the naze nani." The Lackey pointed at an overhead two-dimensional display of their course. "The Big Barrier as those morons have chosen to call it is still operative. However, what no one's ever corrected is that at very specific and regular points the field is weaker than others."

He zoomed in on the point they'd selected to cross the barrier at and continued. "Specifically, between 200 and 250 meters from each power plant the field is magnitudes weaker than anywhere else. Firing one 50mm round into the barrier causes enough disruption to allow a ship to punch through. The beauty of this phenomenon is that they have the sensitivity for the alarms the barrier can set off high enough to ignore any size meteorite that will burn up on re-entry. While a shuttle's big enough to set off the alarm, if you strike it with a 50-round it pops up and says 'Oo! Meteor! I'm going to ignore the next 30 seconds since there may be more of them!', and then, you just glide on through."

"Why haven't they fixed the weakness?" Akito asked, deciding he really didn't want to know why his navigator was so familiar with these facts.

"Because everyone who knows about it avoids talking about it around the kinds of people that would want to fix the problem. If you want a more practical excuse, which is still an excuse, correcting the problem would require the entire barrier to be down for too long a period of time for the muckety mucks who DO know about the problem AND want to fix it to be comfortable with. In other words, the U.E.S.F. brass is damn well aware of this and ain't gonna do shit about it."

An alarm flicked on at Greg's console, indicating that showtime was upon them. As he grabbed the sticks at his sides, he was once again grateful for the indulgences nii-san allowed himself and Dean. The shuttle had been customized to their own tastes in flying, and Akito was lucky that Dean shared Tenkawa's preference of the clean cockpit layout an Aesti used. He, on the other hand, preferred sticks and switchgear, and his side was a maze of single-function controls.

At the appointed time, Greg launched a singe round into the barrier. Akito watched as the barrier flared to life. They were going to dive into _that_? _Too late to back out now,_ he thought to himself as the shuttle plunged into the wake of the shell. The craft rocked violently but held intact as Akito felt their momentum slow briefly as the barrier gave a go at holding them out. Greg had been correct, as a second later Akito felt himself pushed back in his seat as the shuttle's engines overcame the barrier and they snapped past it and towards the blue earth below.

Once their trajectory was close to set, Akito let the shuttle roll so that its aft portion was pointed in the direction they were going. At first, Akito hadn't seen the logic in this, but Greg had once again taken over Inez's position as head Naze Nani. The shuttle, which in a previous life had been strictly for running contraband, was built in a vague wedge shape which held two purposes. The front of the craft was the knife-like edge of the wedge, and was designed specifically for punching through the big barrier on a regular basis. The rear of the craft, which was slightly rounded, gave the craft some aerodynamics, if you made atmospheric entry backwards. The craft's "wings" were little more than engine mounts and were pretty useless for maneuvering. Landing was essentially a controlled free-fall. Thus, if you fell "backwards" into the atmosphere, you could use the engines as massive brakes to slow your descent. It didn't make for a pleasant landing, but it did do minimal damage to goods and personnel on board.

Minimal, of course, is a relative term. Ruri watched as Akito wrestled with the craft, gravity, and inertia all at the same time. For her part, Ruri was wrestling with her stomach contents.

'Baka.'

'What? I didn't say anything.'

'Say, no. Think, yes.'

'Gomen nasai, hime-chan. You can't deny the irony of the famous captain of the _Nadesico_ being space sick, even if, truth be told, nine-tenths of your crew would be too under these conditions.'

"I hate inertia!" Akito yelled to no one in particular as if to punctuate the chairman's words.

"Baka, we know you do." Ruri and Inuyasha responded, blushing slightly at echoing each other's words.

Akito barely had time to listen to the two's words, because the craft was headed into the atmosphere at a fairly steep angle. In a pleasant descent, Akito would have chosen a low angle of entry, and made the better part of an orbit in landing. However, since there was a price on their heads, he was going to be forced to land the craft as expeditiously as possible. That meant entering the atmosphere over South Africa and being at ground level over Mexico. Not a problem unless this was your first atmospheric entry as well as your first engine-braked entry. Thus, Ruri was exposed for the first time in her life to someone who could curse more than both Inuyashas combined.

Less than five minutes later, Akito was panting and staring out the front viewscreen at the scorch marks he had left on the runway in El Ray. Grateful for the cessation of shaking, the shuttle's occupants collectively stood and stretched. A bit ironic considering the fact that atmospheric entry had confined everyone to their seats for only a few minutes. Ruri and Akito stared in surprise when the next thing Greg and Inu did was check their sidearms.

'Is that gong to be necessary?'

'Probably, hime-chan.'

"El ray isn't exactly a tourist attraction," Greg offered, apparently answering a similar question issued from the pilot beside him. In response Akito and Ruri checked their own weapons, both blade and otherwise.

Stepping from the craft, Ruri realized Inu's paranoia may not have been unfounded as a line of vehicles headed towards them. If this were a landing strip in Tokyo or some other metropolis, one wouldn't immediately assume a vehicle was headed for your craft. Here, however, where the "landing strip" was a simply a large stretch of half-heartedly repaired tarmac and concrete with a few scattered buildings around, if you saw a vehicle it was most likely headed in your direction. She saw from the corner of her mind her love thumb the hammer strap away from the ancient revolver he carried and heard leather and metal scraping leather as Akito and Greg apparently prepared for anything. She wrapped her hands around Hanyou's Protector and prayed that everyone was over-reacting.

'Do you know who they are, Inuyasha?'

'No. Too much dust to see or smell anything. They're not neutral passers-by though. Everyone here is either your friend or your enemy. No middle ground in this town.'

They didn't have long to wait, as the group of three trucks and two exotics quickly encircled them. Looking at the trucks' occupants brought no ease to the group and caused Kagura to flick her fan open menacingly. Well, menacingly to anyone familiar with fans used as weapons. The riders mistook the gesture and showed their misplaced appreciation of it. It looked as if each individual was more heavily armed than the entire shuttle party combined, but with her knowledge of her love's and her assumptions of Kagura's abilities, Ruri wasn't worried about the firepower, just the numbers.

The vehicles formed a half circle around the side of the shuttle the group disembarked from. The driver's door of the dusty red Porsche that had led the pack opened and from it stepped a man in a slightly battered three piece black suit over a white T-shirt, all layers of which seemed as dusty as the car was.

Ruri felt Inu relax ever so slightly at the sight of the ringleader but noted that he was still fighting tense. Inu stepped slightly away from Ruri, his mind sending clear signals for her to stay near Greg for the moment. She turned to face her temporary protector and saw him holster his weapon and light a cigarette. Ruri worriedly looked back to her love, who was squaring off against the other man, both obviously placing themselves where if they shot at each other, stray bullets wouldn't strike anyone.

It was the ringleader who "spoke" first. He pulled out a snub-nose similar to the one Akito had favored as the Prince of Darkness and fired a shot which caused a lock of Inu's hair to flick through the air in its wake. "I thought I told you to stay the fuck out of my town."

Ruri started towards Inu but felt a hand clamp on her arm. She turned to see Greg, the lit cigarette still wavering from his mouth. "Trust him, nee-chan. He probably knows this town better than I do."

Ruri's eyes steeled and Greg immediately removed his hand from her arm. She turned back to what was apparently a gruesome sort of custom. Whether her love's opponent was a good guy or a bad guy, she didn't know yet.

Inu had not said anything yet, just smiled at the man before him. "And I see you're still as annoying as ever."

With the speed only youkai can have he drew his weapon and fired a round which split the left shoulder of his opponent's coat on the seam. The suit scowled and returned the shot at the same point on the fire-rat kimono, which did no damage to whatsoever to the fabric.

"I'd have thought you'd learned by now how this kimono works, baka."

"Shove off, it's been a few years." The opponent shrugged and Inu took the opportunity for his turn, neatly splitting the shoulder seam on the gun arm.

"Godammit, would you lay off the suit already?" Taking his turn, the suit let his bullet graze past Inuyasha's hair again.

"How about you lay off the hair?" The chairman retorted. "Geez, Seth, be a little original will ya?" He fired, grazing the hair of Seth's close-cropped head.

Ruri stared at the two, unwilling to believe two grown men were playing chicken with each other. Inuyasha was well aware of the constant stream of 'baka, if you get hurt you're never going to be forgiven for this nonsense' aimed square into his head. Ruri wasn't sure what was going on in her love's head at the moment. It was one of the few aspects of him that she still found slightly frightening, when his mind, normally completely open to hers, suddenly locked itself down. Even if she was standing right next to him, it was harder to sense his presence at those moments in time than it was when she was in deep space and he on earth.

Ruri's mind snapped back to the scene before her in time to catch Seth smile for the first time since his arrival. "Damn, you've gotten a helluva lot better at this than last time."

"Maybe you've gotten worse and it just seems like I've gotten better, or I gave you a break last time." The human's smile disappeared at the youkai's comment, and he fired his next shot which grazed one of the buckles on his opponent's boot, causing the youkai not to flinch, but smile.

"Your shit is most certainly not together. You should have taken that clean off." The youkai placed his next shot at his opponent's wrist, which had been carelessly placed in such a way that he could cleanly destroy the wristwatch on it.

The shot enraged the human. "You prick! That was an antique!" He fired at the youkai's hip, leaving powder burns on the holster.

"And that shot should also have taken it clean off. You really have lost your stuff, haven't you?"

"Fine." The human donned sunglases. "I dare you."

"Too easy." The youkai no inu took his fifth shot, hitting the frame at its left hinge and snapping off the earpiece without shattering the lens.

The human ignored the shot as it passed his head and fired at the youkai's bokken, knowing that the stick was a weak point for the youkai. Seth was counting on Inuyasha flinching to keep the weapon from being struck. However, instead of flinching and losing, the youkai bent the rules.

"Son of a bi- How did you catch a fucking bullet?"

"I guess maybe I have gotten better since we last did this."

"Maybe you're just pumped that you're about to get laid for the first time in God knows how many hundred years."

The youkai's eyes steeled as Ruri blushed at the other human's coarseness. The human smiled slyly at the youkai, knowing it would enrage the youkai. The entire house of Inutaishou seemed to have a predisposition towards being innocent in one area and one area only. A member of that house may have the blood of thousands of youkai and humans on his hands, but would remain purely innocent towards females. Seth played against this fact, knowing that if he could enrage the youkai he'd make a mistake. He glanced over at the group still standing by the shuttle.

"Funny though. Your father seems to approve of your bride, but she looks like she's got plenty of demon blood in her, if not wholly demon. I'd have thought after that mess you had with your last bitch you'd stay the away from your own kind. Nice kimono though. She as deadly with that fan as she looks?"

Inuyasha, who'd let his mind cloud in anger, blinked owlishly and snapped back to something akin to reality. "Fan? Aho, that's a wakizashi, not a fan."

Ruri stared at her beloved and somewhat suppressed a laugh at his temporary stupidity. 'Baka baka. He's got it wrong, and you've misunderstood him as well.'

Inu stopped staring at Seth to stare at his fiancee. Ruri let him hang for a few moments, then spelled it out for him in his head, which caused him to laugh. "Seth, you really are a dumbass."

It was now Seth's turn to be confused as he looked at the group before him. Realization slowly came upon him, and he shook his head. "Well, she's human, which I guess is why your father doesn't care. I guess if your tastes swing that way who am I to judge, but why would you choose such a pale, weak little bitch over the other one?"

Ruri felt Inuyasha's blood suddenly boil in his veins. She felt more than knew that he was being protective of her, as it was clear that Seth had crossed a line. She watched as Inuyasha fired his last shot at Seth, letting the bullet graze his opponent's face, leaving a thin line of blood in its wake. Without explanation the youkai leaped forward, flicking open his weapon's cylinder and throwing the spent cartridges in the human's face. Seth raised his gun and started clicking past empty chambers. The enraged youkai batted the weapon out of the human's hands with his own and lifted the man one-handed by the front of his clothes with his free arm. The coolness left Seth's face and was replaced by genuine fear.

"You may address me any way you please; I don't care. However. Do not, under any circumstance, treat Hoshino-san with anything other than absolute respect. Is that absolutely. Completely. Clear?"

The human nodded and the youkai returned him to his feet. Seth shrugged his suit back into place and regained some of his composure. "You've gone soft, youkai."

"Damn straight, mortal," Inuyasha sneered, pausing to punch the human in the jaw before turning to return to Ruri's side. Ruri felt that her betrothed had over-reacted, but at the same time was somewhat grateful for the display of chivalry on her behalf. She was well aware she was a sucker for such things. She remembered that it was one of the qualities which had caused her to care for Akito so much back on the first ship to bear the name Nadesico.

The son of Sesshoumaru turned that fact over in his head as he watched the occupants of two of the three trucks disembark to load Omoikane's drive cores onto the vehicles. He felt a hand slip into his and looked down beside him at the face of his beloved.

'Are you upset with me, hime-chan?'

'No, not really. I think I understand your motives, even if I don't like your actions.'

'I don't really like my actions, either. Have you sorted through enough of my memories to come to El Ray yet?'

'I haven't yet. I know some unpleasant things happen here and I've always known you'll bring them up when you're ready.'

'There's plenty of unpleasantness in this town, certainly. It was several years after Kagura and I had separated the first time I came here. At that point in time I was certainly just my father's puppy. He thought, correctly, that kicking me out of the house for fifty years or so would be good for me.'

'What did you do here?'

'This entire town is a power struggle. I started out as a hit man, of all things, then made the right friends and within three years had pretty much taken control of this town. I beat Seth's grandfather for control, because at the time Seth's father was more interested in senoritas than business. He was too young to lead this place, as well. Once he screwed his head on straight and grew up I forced him to challenge me for control of the town. Do you know how difficult it is to make it look like someone beat you fairly when your abilities are light years ahead of their own?'

Further conversation was interrupted when Seth tossed a set of car keys at the youkai. "You two lovebirds gonna stand there staring at each other all day or are we going to get the out of this heat?"

Inuyasha and Ruri looked up to see the other three members of their party climbing aboard one of the trucks and that the drive cores were nestled safely with the other two trucks. Noticing the three-point star on the keychain, Inuyasha started for the Mercedes only to find Ruri ever so gracefully cut him off and relieve him of the keys. Ruri turned and headed for the driver's door not missing the bemused look on her love's face.

"Baka," she called over her shoulder, more for everyone else's benefit than their own, "I've ridden with you before. I'm driving."

"In my defense, I can say that you rode with me on a motorcycle under conditions where speed was more important than ride comfort. I could also point out that you've never driven a left-hand drive before. Come to think of it, have you even driven before?"

"I, however, have the keys," she said simply, smiling back at the youkai and waving the article in question in the air.

Greg took a final drag off of his cigarette and tossed the butt onto the runway. "Sometimes," he said, looking at Akito and Kagura seated across from him on the truck bed, "they are so cute, you just want to puke."

// \\

_Next up, an El Ray festival and rumblings of Naraku. Oh, and Fluffy sings._


	6. Sesshoumaru Sings

The ride itself to Seth's property in El Ray was uneventful, but that didn't mean there wasn't turmoil in the Mercedes which followed the Porsche.

'Life sure got a lot more complicated in a week, didn't it?' The youkai really only aimed the comment at his own mind despite knowing his love would hear it as well.

'Hai.' Ruri followed the Porsche through a corner she would have preferred to take slower but managed without sliding any tires. 'Akito, Kagura, Naraku, my ship, all at once. If this were anime I'd say they're all related.'

'I can't help but say the same. Too much in one time to be truly independent of each other, but it wouldn't make any sense for them to be related. At least, not at this point in time. Either way, I think we have a more pressing issue.'

'I worry about that too. Yurika-san still hurts, and his being with Kagura, even with memory loss, is going to hurt her even more.' They rounded the final corner and came face to face with the palatial home of the current head of El Ray. Their line of conversation suspended itself while they pulled into the driveway. The trucks with Omoikane on board didn't follow them to the front door, instead veering off on a side road once inside the gates. A moment of panic flashed through Ruri's mind.

'Don't worry, hime-chan. They're just going to offload the arrays and then pack them for transfer back to Nippon.' They parked and stepped from the vehicle to see Sesshoumaru on the steps of the house. Son and fiancee bowed before their father, who returned the greeting then tossed Tenseiga to his son.

"Arigato, Sesshoumaru-sama. How is El Ray?"

"It has been a pleasant enough stay. I have new respect for you, my soon-daughter. In the past few days I have learned much of the nature of your adoptive mother, and she is a... unique individual."

Ruri looked up at the lord, "Yurika-san came with you?"

"I was not given a choice. Where are Kagura and Akito-san?"

As if on cue, the pair walked up from the truck they had been riding on, a bit dusty but none worse for the wear. The two youkai from Sengoku Jidai regarded each other coldly, causing Akito to slink towards the chairman and captain. The engaged couple, however, ignored Akito's advance, both wanting to go see Yurika before she stumbled into Akito first.

Ruri stepped forward, cutting the tension between youkai, who were starting to growl slightly at teach other. "Otou-san, where is Yurika-san now?"

"In the gardens, I believe. That was where I took my leave of her when I heard the trucks returning. I will show these two each to their rooms."

'Let the tension begin, Ruri.'

'Hai. Despite how your father sounded, I think Yurika-san's growing on him.'

'I agree,' Inuyasha replied, leading the way into the gardens he had spent much time meditating in during his stay here. They found Yurika easy enough, as there was one point in particular which offered a view of the surrounding wilderness and ocean beyond second only to the hacienda's tower.

"Ruri-Ruri!" The major had obviously been crying but her face brightened immediately upon seeing Ruri. The two embraced warmly, after which Ruri re-introduced Yurika to the chairman. Inuyasha extended his hand towards Misumaru-Tenkawa, who deftly dodged the formal greeting and hugged him around the neck. The youkai blushed and awkwardly returned the embrace.

"Ruri-chan's a daughter to me, so therefore you're going to have to think of me as 'okaa-san' as well," she said with a smile.

Inu smiled weakly, "Very well, I'll try."

"Speaking of which, I've never met your mother, will I get the chance?"

Yurika missed the wince in her future son's face, but Ruri didn't. She leaned against him and spoke for him. "She died long ago."

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"Worry not, mama," the chairman said, his smile genuine. He wrapped an arm around his love's waist and the other around Yurika's shoulders. "It was long ago, before your mother was a zygote in her mother's womb, and is a story for another time. Come, let us sit on the bench for a while. There's something we need to discuss."

"We should go see Akito before we discuss anything."

Ruri looked down at the ground. "Yurika-san, it's Akito we need to discuss."

The couple sat on each side of Yurika on the bench and explained the situation as best they could.

"I am glad that we have our old Akito back, not the pilot of the Black Serena, and that his body is returning to normal," Ruri said in summary, "but it still hurts that he can barely remember us."

"His memories are certainly there. He knows he should know both of you, so in time the they're sure to return."

"But what about Kagura?" Yurika interjected. "She loves Akito, and he her, even if it isn't as strong as I love him. I'm not going to lose, but I don't want to hurt her, either"

"May Buddha forgive me for my thoughts," Inuyasha said quietly.

"Nani?" Yurika asked. The two women stared at the male before them. Ruri gathered a picture of what her love had thought and shuddered. Yurika turned to stare at Ruri, feeling the slight woman's reaction.

"He is afraid the situation my resolve itself."

"What do you mean?" Yurika looked back to the youkai, who had rested his head in his hands, his elbows against his knees.

"You remember the story of our family's involvement in the history of the Shikon no Tama?"

"Hai."

"And otou-san told you about the archaeological discovery in Tokyo and how it pertains our family?"

"Hai."

The youkai ran his hands through his mane and raised his head to stare at the land before him, striking a very thoughtful pose. "I fear that Naraku will try to reclaim her. She is an individual created from him; several of his lesser youkai forged together to create one single, independent youkai. However, to control her he still has her heart. He can remove it from her and crush her. If he gives her an order, she must follow it, even if she does not want to. She is a slave. If he does reclaim her, she will be our... my enemy. As such, Naraku may force me to kill her."

"That's cruel!"

"That's Naraku," Ruri said flatly. "Yurika... mama, Inu-kun wishes for your happiness with Akito as much as I do, but he will not kill Kagura just to get her out of the way. He does, in a sense, love her. They were involved together some two hundred years ago, and he still has respect for her. Kagura is to our relationship what Megumi is to yours. Killing her is in no way what Inu-kun wants to do, but he will do whatever it takes to protect me, and to protect everyone I consider family."

Yurika looked at Ruri, who was blushing slightly, and smiled. "Ruri-Ruri, ever the wise one. Well, you two go. Seto-san has a massive feast planned for this evening. You two go change; Sesshoumaru said to simply tell you the two of you were both in the tower while you're here, that you," she looked at the youkai, "would know what that meant. I made sure they had clothes to fit you Ruri-chan, and I think there're things up there for you, too, Inuyasha-kun. I'll go see Kagura-san and Akito. I'll be okay, I promise." She kissed her daughter's and son's cheeks and sent them on their way.

'She took that better than I expected,' Inuyasha commented as he led her up the myriad staircases into the tower.

'Did she? I'm not sure we saw all of her feelings, nor am I sure it was wise for us to let her go find them on her own.'

'Otou-san will be there, however, so at least a cat fight wouldn't get out of hand. "Oro!"' The youkai rubbed his arm where the hanyou hit it.

"'Baka.'"

"'Hai. We're here.'" The youkai stepped onto the small landing at the top of the stairs and opened the door into guest quarters which took up the entirety of the top floor of the tower. The rest of the house was ornamented in traditional Spanish styles, with religious imagery and knick-knacks abounding. This room was a stark contrast, almost Japanese in its simplicty. Closets built against the walls covered the south wall, with the only other article of furniture in the room being the immense bed flanked with nightstands on the North wall. Beside each nightstand were double doors which would lead to the guest bath. The only adornment on the north wall was a sword twice the length of Tetsusaiga or Tenseiga, and looked to be a mixture of Japanese and Western sword-making. 

'You would be correct, Ruri. It's something of a cross between a Claymore and katana. The man who gave it to me was the only person I've ever known who could wield it well.' The youkai, obviously familiar with the room, flipped a switch by the door. Ruri saw that the eastern and western "walls" were actually sliding glass doors, which were opening to provide unrestricted views to the east and west.

'Was he youkai or human?' Ruri wondered, looking up at the weapon.

'Hanyou, actually.'

'Hanyou?' Ruri echoed. 'But hanyou are only part demon. I could never wield a sword better than you could.'

The youkai blinked. 'But you have. Tetsusaiga. Besides, blood doesn't determine ability. You're the reincarnation of a hanyou who was the only person, man or beast, who could challenge Sesshoumaru-sama. This hanyou was as powerful as my uncle, perhaps even more so.

'This place is a magnet for hanyou, I guess.'

'Not really. He never visited here. I met him in Eastern Europe, where they don't really have a concept of hanyou.'

'But you said he is one. How could they not have a concept of it?'

'They call it by a different name, that's all. Bat youkai in Europe are called vampires. In Nippon we would call him hanyou, but there he is called dhampire.

'Dahm-pir, eh? It somehow sounds more romantic than 'hanyou.''

'I wouldn't say that. In many regards the demons of the west are more vile than the demons of the east. Vampires especially.' He took her hand and led her to the open eastern windows and out onto the balcony. 'Let's shelve that discussion for a while, hime-chan. Sunsets here are more beautiful here than at home.'

Ruri couldn't argue. In Tokyo every sunset had something in the way. Powerlines, other buildings, something. Here, the view was unobstructed, with an even better view of the ocean beyond the edge of the desert in sight. Inuyasha leaned against the masonry and pulled Ruri against him as the watched the sun sink lower.

'Shouldn't we be heading downstairs soon?'

'It will be a while before the fun begins. They won't light the bonfires until dusk is well underway, and the food won't be ready until a while after that. We can watch some more of the sunset then shower and change for the evening.'

'So we have to go down in formal attire?' The distaste in her voice was obvious.

'Quite the opposite. We're both way overdressed for it. Even so, your USEF uniform won't be especially welcome. Seth's men won't care, they know you're with me, but any time there's an event like this half the town turns out, and I don't want anyone to give you trouble.'

'Baka. My prince, ever my protector.'

// \\

A half hour later both youkai and hanyou had removed the stiffness of shuttle travel from their veins and re-convened in the bedroom area of the suite. Ruri had been slightly disappointed when she found that the separate doors on each side of the bed actually led to separate bathing and dressing areas. Her fiance had initially teased her about being hentai, but relented a little and broke his years-old tradition by keeping his mind fully open to her while they both changed. He couldn't blame her, really. All that had transpired in the past few weeks left him needing to cling closer to her as well. The fact that each felt that way mildly surprised the other until each saw it in himself. For most of their lives both had been considered to be independent both by themselves and those around them.

Almost as physical proof, the pair chose to descend the staircase with arms entwined about each other's waists instead of simply holding hands. Height differences of course made this difficult, and halfway down the youkai opted to carry the hanyou down. This caused much glee in the eyes of the other youkai who happened to be standing at the foot of the staircase into the tower.

"I see that you have already wrapped him around your young fingers, child." Kagura's red eyes smiled evilly.

"Perhaps you're just bitter because I never carried you anywhere in our time together. But I never heard you complain during the fact," The chairman chided. "Have you met Yurika-san yet?"

"'You're not very good at subtly changing subjects, are you?'" Ruri teased.

"'Baka.' Anyways. Have you?"

Kagura stopped for a moment to compose her thoughts. "Indeed. What a remarkable woman. Her husband's been having an affair for six months now after she's been separated from him for about four years with no explanation, and she has the strength to not even slap him."

Ruri indicated she would like to be placed on the ground and her betrothed granted her request. She walked up and looked up at the taller woman. "I think you do not know Akito-san as well as you think you do. I also think you do not know what they have been through. Yurika-san has far more strength in her than you ever will, and has been through more than you ever will, even though you're a thousand years older than she."

Kagura's eyes narrowed. "She has never been a slave."

Ruri's eyes grew several degrees closer to Absolute Zero than Kagura's. "She has indeed. She bears the weight of her actions while she was enslaved much more acutely than you ever will."

Kagura retreated towards the veranda behind her and the courtyard beyond. "I was sent to tell you that Seto-san has your table waiting."

The two followed the elder youkai outside to see a massive throng gathered in the encroaching darkness. Upon their entrance, several bonfires coincidentally lit up, as well as many torches around the periphery of the area, bathing the yard in a yellow glow.

A band on a makeshift stage started playing miscellaneous covers from various decades and even centuries as the trio made their way to the head table, where they were greeted by the rest of their group. Seating arrangements were fairly straightforward. Sesshoumaru and Akito on the ends of the table, with Kagura on Akito's left and Yurika on his right. Ruri was set by Yurika and Inuyasha by Ruri and his father. Across from the chairman was Greg, who separated Kagura from Seth (whom Greg would later relate had already made several passes at Kagura). The organization maximized the distance between combatants, unless Yurika and Kagura decided to King Solomon poor Akito as the prospector had done with Minato, Yurika and Ruri all those years ago.

Parties in El Ray are not of the quiet variety. Most of the tables on the grounds had nothing but alcohol on them to drink. The head table was one of the few which had non-alcoholic drinks available, and that was mostly in deference to the engaged couple, and more specifically, the youkai, who was well aware of his drinking limits. Said youkai's father, on the other hand, was a different story. It is common for youkai to inherit traits common to that which they are a youkai of. Neko youkai were known for serving their revenge on ice as well as for their cunning. Ookami youkai, for their viciousness in combat and their speed. Inu youkai, for their loyalty and strength. Less often realized is the fact that youkai also inherit some of the lesser properties of their originators. Dogs like beer. Dogs are tone deaf. Dogs like to sing. So it was with Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands. His son, and therefore also his future daughter-in-law, was all too aware of this fact, as was Seth. It was during his original tenure in El Ray that the youngest of the house of Inutaishou learned his limits for alcohol, in a feast such as this one. However, the mizu no youkai of his mother gave him a higher tolerance for alocohol than his father as well as more grace of voice and instrument. Not that he could compare with his fiancee, but it could be considered respectable. Sesshoumaru, however, was none of these things.

All of this ran through Inuyasha's mind as he watched Seth pour drink after drink into Sesshoumaru's glass as the food was brought around. He knew also that the band wasn't helping matters, as they were occasionally venturing into the playlists stored in the elder youkai's Ferrari. The young youkai saw the final blow coming, but was powerless to stop it. Seth had tossed shot glasses to every member of the table. Yurika, Akito, and Ruri didn't capture the purpose of the glass immediately, as the closest thing they were familiar with was sake.

tossed a bottle at the younger youkai, who inwardly sighed. He'd had no alcohol, so he would be fine and could help Ruri shake off any ill effects, but the rest of the members of the table he wasn't sure of. Except his father. He was sure of _that _effect.

Ruri took the bottle from his hands and filled his glass. 'You're being rather amusing,' she thought to him, smiling slightly.

'Do you think it would be considered a mercy killing to off the band so Sesshoumaru-sama won't have anything to sing to?'

'Baka.'

'It was just a thought.'

"A toast!" Seth roared at his table. "To the engaged couple, and to the return of lost family!"

The table raised their glasses in response and then took their drinks. Greg, Sesshoumaru, Seth, and Inuyasha took their drinks properly while Kagura, the Tenkawas and Ruri sipped at the whiskey as if it were sake. Thus, half the table was surprised when the other half slammed their glasses back against the table. Seth and Greg stared at the still mostly full glasses to his right.

"Is there a problem?" Seth asked, an edge of anger in his voice.

The inu youkai at the head of the table laughed aloud. "I believe that we have a bit of a cultural clash here. You see, Seth-san, in Japan people don't take shots as they do here in Mexico."

"Well, it's time they learned how to fucking drink," Seth snorted, reaching across the table to fill the younger Inutaishou's glass again. "Show 'em amigo."

Ruri had winced when she'd first tasted the beverage, and she winced again when he downed the second glass now that she was paying attention to her love's mind. The glasses on Sesshoumaru's end were filled again and Akito's end all attempted to follow local custom, some with more success than others. Kagura choked slightly on hers and Yurika didn't quite get the concept of shot versus drinking, but for the most part they survived.

With the almost ritual shots out of the way, the table dove into the food before them, the former shuttle occupants for the most part starving after surviving on rations for several days. Inuyasha noted Ruri's apparent lack of appetite.

'What's wrong, Ruri? Troubled by thought, drink, or food?' the youkai no inu asked, scarfing down a tamale.

'It's just much spicier than what your father and Akito-san made that time.'

'I see. Do the best you can for now, love, we'll get something more appetizing later. Go for the sopapillas'

'Hai. Where is Sesshoumaru-sama?'

'Huh?' The son looked at his father's vacant chair. "Seth, how much liquor have you given Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Beats the hell out of me. I'm not his mother."

"In other words, you were too young to remember the last time he got drunk at one of these things."

"And why would that matter?"

"Because if you did remember the last time he got drunk at one of your family's feasts you would recall his behavior while drunk."

"And just what the hell would that be?" Seth's question was punctuated by a microphone squeal.

Inuyasha moved his plate and dropped his head to the table. "That would apparently be _that_."

Ruri stroked the white mane beside her and twisted around, looking for the source of the squeal. It was evident soon enough. Sesshoumaru's voice was now booming above the party's din and sounding rather inebriated. He began caterwauling about something regarding a fever triggered by being scratched by a Neko which Ruri wasn't quite grasping the meaning of. She knew her English was quite good, but she was still missing what in the world the youkai no inu was "singing" about. 

'It, um, has nothing to do with an actual neko,' her beloved thought, and Ruri didn't even need to turn back to face him to know his face was nearing incandescence between embarrassment of his own and on her behalf. 'This is also most likely just the start of his, er, performance. Let's see how gracefully we can get out of here.'

The pair stood, Greg and Seth both staring at them bewildered. "Yo, dog-boy, they can bring you more food, you don't have to go get it," Seth stated flatly.

"Actually, I believe we're retiring for the evening. I've got to get up early and get some work done, and besides, if I leave now, somebody else has to clean up Sesshoumaru-sama's mess," the youkai finished with a smile.

The two wandered around the grounds for a while, eventually ending up in the kitchens. Ruri commandeered a stool at the counter overlooking the stove while the youkai rummaged through the kitchen.

'You can cook?'

"'Not very well, but I can make chicken fried rice, at least.'" He retrieved a wok from the hanging rack in the center of the kitchen and set it on a burner. "'Do you want a lot of vegetables in it?'" He asked, lighting the burner.

"'Just chicken and rice is fine.'" She watched as he prepared the meal for her quickly and simply, pouring half into a bowl he set before her and the other half into a bowl for himself. Shutting off the burner, he crossed around to sit beside her, fishing chopsticks out of a drawer en route.

Ruri accepted the chopsticks from him, but stared at her bowl for a moment before starting.

'What is it, hime-chan?'

'It's just... people seem to expect the wife to cook for her husband, but you've just cooked the first meal, for me.'

'Frankly, I think a lot of those traditions are stupid. I don't agree with them. Please don't worry about it, okay?'

'If you say so. It's just that Yurika--'

The youkai raised his hand to halt her. "We've had this discussion before. You're Hoshino Ruri, not Misumaru Yurika. What was right for her and her relationship with Akito may be neither what's right for your nor what's right for your relationship with me."

"Is there someone there? I've already sent all the cooks home so whatever food's outside is all that's left, I'm afraid."

"Oi, Gigi, I know my way around a kitchen, and I know my way around this kitchen in particular."

''Gigi?' That's rude.'

'Not when it's what you've gone by for years, hime-chan.'

"Well, well, well, I knew your father was here, but I didn't know both Inutaishou had arrived in El Ray." Ruri watched as an elderly man hobbled into the room. They appraised each other slightly warily before the old man continued. "I suppose this is that Electronic Fairy everyone keeps talking about that you're engaged to. Allow me an introduction, miss. I'm Makoto 'Gigi' Vasquez, been caretaker of this shack for fifty some-odd years, and half of the reason we still keep woks and chopsticks in this place. Your beau would happen to be the other half of that reason. If there's anything you need, come see me. But, better see me in the morning. You two had better rest yourselves as well, with that whole Naraku thing a brewin'."

The youkai raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. "Sesshoumaru-sama discussed that with you? I didn't realize he'd brought it up with anyone outside of the family unless necessary."

"It troubles him greatly, I suppose, and old codgers like me are ad-hoc counselors, you know."

"Point taken, Gigi-san. Until the morning then."

"Until the morrow. Turn off the lights when you kids leave the kitchen."

The two quietly finished their rice, relishing the lack of noise in their vicinity, even if the walls did not completely block the sounds from outside.

'Inu...' The youkai stared down at his rice and was completely oblivious to the one beside him. Ruri turned on the stool to face him and leaned towards his face. 'Baka.' Still no response. She poked him in the shoulder. 'Baka. Baka baka baka baka baka BAKA!' On the final word she hauled off and punched his shoulder, which finally shook him from his reverie. 'What is it, Inuyasha?' She thought as softly as she could.

'It's nothing, I hope. It's just that as much as Gigi is trusted in this household, I did not expect my father to trust him with information about Naraku. But, I have no reason to doubt him.' He glanced over at her empty bowl. 'More or sleep?'

'Sleep.'

'Agreed.' They stood and placed their dishes in the sink. They headed for the tower, remembering to turn off the last lights in the kitchen.

// \\

The betrothed couple flopped onto the bed from opposite sides at almost the same instant and stared up at the ceiling. Ruri moved to rest her head on his shoulder, and the youkai welcomed the contact. While Inuyasha had planned on changing back into his fire rat hakama and his kimono, Ruri had beaten him to the pile he had left and taken the shirt before he could don it, forcing him to wear only the hakamas, much to Ruri's delight. He couldn't complain too much, however, as Mexico's heat even at night was more than he was used to in Japan. Youkai blood didn't have a problem with it, it just wasn't what he had grown accustomed to in recent years. And despite earlier protestations of modesty, he was forced at admit that his fiancee was highly attractive when using his shirt as a gown. Ruri laughed slightly at his thoughts and rolled over, raising herself onto her hands and knees. She crawled across the bed, placing herself directly above him.

'You're cute when you go all ecchi on me,' she laughed.

'Baka, you started it.'

"'Did not,'" she retorted, bending her head down slowly to kiss him. He noticed the kimono slide itself open but forced himself to focus his attentions upon her mouth instead. They came within a hair's breadth of contacting each other when both suddenly stopped. She knew what he sensed, she had seen this reaction just before Kagura walked back into his, their life. It was an unknown demon, one which she suddenly realized even her watery hanyou blood could sense. "A great malevolence" was the only way she could phrase it. She felt his mind race and saw that this demon was equal or greater than the grandmother he had been forced to kill all those years ago, that which had also brought them so close together.

She let her love roll her towards the headboard and watched as he leaped to grab the closest sword he could get to, which was the sword of the dhampir. She was forced to admit fear when she realized that he himself was afraid that he would require steel to defend her, not just the bokken or Tenseiga.

The youkai leaped back over Ruri to stand at the foot of the bed and felt every muscle in his body forcefully loosen for battle. The jaki approaching was not immense, but dangerous. It reeked of death, and reminded him of how his uncle had described Naraku's scent in the form the hanyou held before being cut down by Kagome. He unsheathed the sword and coiled his arms near his head in an assassin's stance, letting the scabbard clatter to the floor. If Naraku was here then the task of hunting him would be easier - but it left Ruri in harm's way, which he wished above all else to avoid. He realized in the tension-filled waiting that he held one advantage that his uncle had never held. Kagome's presence had always brought out the best fighter that the hanyou no inu could be yet placed her at great personal risk. He, however, could gain all of the strength of Ruri's presence without placing her in needless danger. She certainly could defend herself, but that was not the problem. He wished that she did not have to defend herself.

Despite the encroaching danger, Hoshino smiled at her future mate's protectiveness. Greg had apparently had someone bring her blades to the room, as she realized the Tetsusaiga and Hanyou's protector were leaning against one of the nightstands by the bed. She picked up the seemingly delicate wakizashi and returned to the center of the bed, placing Inuyasha directly between herself and the door. She searched out his mind and found it completely open to her, unlike events on the _Nadesico_.

She did not need her youkai's sensitive hearing nor his keen sense of smell to know that it was upon them, as whatever they were about to face was creating a thunderous tumult of footsteps as it raced up the tower stairs. Both heard them stop and whatever it was began pounding on the door into the chambers.

Ruri's eyes widened in realization. 'It's not trying to break in, it's trying to be let in.'

Her love apparently agreed and pulled his offhand from his sword, using a practiced flick of the golden whip to open the door from where he stood. Had she not been inside his head, she might have missed the motion as he used speed only a youkai could exhibit. His left hand was again on the sword's hilt before the door had a chance to swing even half-open. He found himself staring into the panicked eyes of his former lover, her kimono hastily wrapped around herself.

"The scar..." she started, then trailed off.

"I don't think there's a need for you to tell me that it has returned. It's quite evident your youki has significantly changed. If I'm not mistaken in my history, you smell like Naraku now." Ruri could feel the debate in Inuyasha's mind to the point where it was almost a tangible presence in the room. "You have three choices, Kagura. If you believe you can withstand Naraku's influence, you may stay by Akito's side. However, if you fail in withstanding Naraku, I will kill you. Two. I kill you now. I would recommend against this course of action. I don't want to kill you, nor do Akito-san, Ruri, or Yurika-san want me to kill you. Three. Leave. I suggest you do this. I do not ask you to leave Akito-san's side forever; only until Naraku is either destroyed or sealed again. Until that time you endanger Akito-san, because I am certain that Naraku will ask you to kill him."

Kagura stared at the man she once trusted and had only recently begun to trust again, feeling as betrayed by him now as she did then. Her red eyes flashed brighter than they ever had since the younger youkai had known her. Slowly, she straightened her kimono around her. More footsteps sounded in the stairwell, and all in the room assumed correctly that it was Yurika and Akito. She turned her back to Inutaishou just as both reached the top of the stairs and, without saying a word to her lover, slowly walked down the stairs.

Akito watched Kagura descend the first few steps, and turned to face Inuyasha, his own eyes gleaming with hellfire once he saw the still raised sword in the youkai's hands. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing she did not already know, Tenkawa-san. It was probably best you were not here to attempt to dissuade her," the youkai replied, lowering the weapon.

"How do you know what's best for me?" Akito roared, his fists clenched at his sides.

The youkai stooped and retrieved the weapon's scabbard from the floor. "How can you know what's best for yourself when you don't even remember who you are?" Inuyasha stood and sheathed the blade, his calm demeanor matching the tone of his words. Ruri knew his mind was in turmoil with the passions of his uncle burning inside, but his face betrayed none of this and his coolness matched that of his father.

Akito leaped forward, indignant at being talked to as such by one he considered younger than himself. The roar from his throat would have scared a lesser youkai, and did frighten both Ruri and Yurika, but Inuyasha merely dodged his punch and the several that followed. Finally, Akito had spent the limit of his strength and nearly collapsed on the floor, only to be caught by the youkai. Akito's anger still held onto him, but the demon let his coldness shatter, and looked down at the man warmly. "Trust her, Akito-san, and do not rush things. You don't remember yet, but let Ruri and Yurika-san tell you of your past. Know that you did not rush in building relationships with them, both as husband and father. And that is what they love you for, and why they still stand by you, when before you lost your memory you betrayed their trust by not returning when you had the chance. Fullness comes in waiting, child. Let it."

The youkai lifted the human to his feet, only to find Yurika beside them and taking Akito from him. He let her take her husband, and youkai and hanyou watched the two humans slowly descend the staircase. Once they disappeared from view Inuyasha slowly walked over and closed the door to the flat and without turning around leaned heavily against it.

'Did I do the right thing, Ruri?'

He felt her arms wrap around him from behind. 'I think so. I hope so. The only thing that worries me is the old saying - 'The devil you know--''

"'Is better than the devil you don't,'" the chairman finished. "'You have a point. If it were only me, or even only us, that I had to think of, I might have allowed her to stay without fear. But I can't put your family in danger, and I don't want you in danger.'"

She dragged him back towards the bed. "Sleep now. We'll try to get in contact with Saburouta or Dean tomorrow, and then try to find Naraku."

"Going to be difficult to contact the ship without Omoikane, but there's probably a way."

"There is when you leave a ghost in the shell," she said with a small smile as she climbed between the sheets.

Her love paused beside the bed. "You know, Mitnick has nothing on you."

'Baka.'

'Hai.'

// \\

_Next up, Omoikane and Ruri reunited for a while, and the ghost in the shell triggered..._


	7. A Ghost in the Shell Awakened

Saburouta crouched down and leaned as close as he could to the access panel without actually going inside of it.

"Ey, Dean-san, how much longer are you going to take in there? Are you expecting us to bring you lunch or something?"

"I told you, I'll finish when I finish, an' it'll be no concern of yours 'til I do." He twisted his head back towards the shaft's entrance where Saburouta was as he continued speaking. "And for your infor-AAAAUGGGHH!!" The Lackey-turned-crewman's head bounced off the top of the confined space at seeing Saburouta's golden and crimson locks inches from his own head. Various oaths in various dialects from the British Isles emanated from the man's mouth as he finished his task. "I believe I also told yer happy ass to naght stan' so close to me friggin' HEAD!"

Williams Haruko laughed from where she was standing watch a few feet from the panel. She'd learned in her short time with Dean that when he was angered or intense about something, the Scottish (or maybe Irish, she wasn't sure which) blood in his veins came out in force, along with an accent to match. Dean started to writhe his way out of the tube when the Jovian decided to give him a hand. Saburouta reached in, grabbed Dean by his shirt's shoulders, braced his feet against the wall and jumped away from the access point. In the tenth-gee environment they'd been dealing with, both men shot across the passageway and into the wall behind them.

And I thought I told you that if you yell so much you'll attract unwanted attention." The first officer took in how they were entwined against the wall before continuing. "You know, why continue with Haruko when you could have me?"

AAAAUUUGGGHHH!"

reflected that in all likelihood Saburouta had a natural tendency to bring out homophobia in any man around him. It was certainly the case with Little Turncoat Hari, as Dean had begun calling the boy. She was amazed that they had managed to stay hidden on the ship for this long. In the confusion surrounding the chairman's and kanchou's departure, the mutineers weren't sure who was left on the ship and who wasn't. They also assumed that Hari was dead, which was an ace on their side. Still, after so many days of being towed and even though you were the good guys you were considered the bad guys, even Saburouta's patience was wearing thin. 

If you boys are quite finished we should get our selves back to the nest and see if your little hack will actually get us into the communication system so we can get ahold of the kanchou."

// \\

Urashima set his teeth and stepped through the door in front of him. He had always hated Thursday evenings because of The Watering Hole. There was no written rule saying that the entire antiquities department of Tokyo University had to gather there every Thursday, but if anyone showed up for work but didn't show up at The Watering Hole that evening, they would be ragged on relentlessly until they swore on the nearest artifact that they would be there the next Thursday. Thus with great reluctance Urashima religiously attended the ritual.

This week he wished to be home even more than usual. His conversation with Sesshoumaru still left found him rattled even though it had occurred days prior. At the same time, he probably could use a drink. He approached the cluster of associate and full professors gathered around the bar, returning their greetings and surprising them all by ordering straight sake instead of one of his usual watery requests.

Conversation drifted among the group, and a few interesting, if inebriated, conversations found him staying a little later than he had originally wished. Normally, the group clung near the bar and didn't migrate to the tables in the rest of the establishment. However, Urashima noticed that one of the newest associate professors had taken sole possession of a table in the far corner of the room. Urashima wandered over to the man, noting that he'd had more to drink that he thought he had if his meandering course was any indication.

He flopped himself into a chair across the table from the younger man, and despite remembering that he'd read one of the boy's papers, he found he was having trouble recalling the fellow's name. Not that he'd remember the transgression in the morning, as he appeared to have consumed far more alcohol than Urashima had. The sensei dug for words to open the conversation with but found hismelf beaten to the punch.

"Baka," the associate said, banging his head against the table lightly. Adams, wasn't that his name? "Baka, baka, baka. Why did we have to listen to him?"

"Listen to who, Adams-san?" Urashima sputtered, slurring his consonants.

"Urashima-sensei, will I ever be forgiven?"

"Depends, what'd you do?"

"It's my fault that Bob's... gone..." he said, referring to the professor who had disappeared along with Kanna's body and mirror.

The pieces finished falling back into place in his drunken and jumbled memory. "Oh, come off it, you found the site, sure, but you didn't know what would happen when we entered the tomb."

"Well..."

// \\

Despite the lateness of the evening before, Ruri awoke early the next morning. She guessed that part of the reason was spending so long on ship standard time made returning to earth a bit of an adjustment. Sitting up, she felt the more immediate reason for her awakening. She glanced around and saw her betrothed sitting on the thick stone banister which encircled the balcony. He was quite obviously attempting to meditate, and even more obviously not doing very well at it, based on the tumult she felt coming from him.

"'Ne, Inuyasha,'" she said quietly, seeking to both announce her presence and not startle him.

'Gomen, Ruri, I didn't mean to wake you,' he apologized, his eyes not straying from the slowly-greying horizon.

'It's okay,' she returned, walking across the room to lean up against the banister next to him. She felt the early-morning chill against her legs. His kimono broke the chill from her arms but was too short to aid elsewhere. 'Kagura on your mind?'

'She's part of it, yes. The return of the scar is the first piece of hard evidence that Naraku really has been released from his prison, and he's gaining strength if he's reclaiming his surviving 'children.'' He turned away from the horizon and stepped down from the railing to stand next to Ruri. 'I'm also worried about your ship. After all,' he added with a smile, 'I'm still Nergal's chairman.'

'It's hard to decide which is more important, isn't it?' Ruri mused.

'Importance, maybe. But it's far easier to decide to what order to do things in. Naraku is very careful and deliberate with his movements, unless his hand is forced. I doubt he'll make another move for a little while, as he must build up his strength after being entombed for so long. Nergal, on the other hand, is much simpler. It's merely a power struggle against me. In preparing for this, I found that most past chairs went through similar trials at the beginning of their terms. An administration is weakest when power changes, and someone is just trying to take advantage of that. They wish to either bend me to their will, or remove me from office and either take the office or place someone more favorable to them in it.

'Akatsuki, maybe?'

'Perhaps. It could just as easily be someone operating wholly in shadow. Akatsuki Nagare certainly retains the means to do this, though it seems he could have retained control of Nergal had he sincerely wanted to. For the time being, however, let's do as you suggested last night and try to reach your basketcase of a bodyguard and my lovestruck former lackey.'

"'Hai,'" Ruri responded, pulling him back into the room with her by the arm.

"Er, something you need me for?"

'Baka. I'm showering, and I just don't want you to be far away from me right now.' She turned to enjoy the blood rushing to his face, though she also knew he wasn't struggling very hard against her grip.

// \\

Yurika awoke not long after her adoptive daughter did and slowly sat up. It was far from the worst hangover she'd ever experienced, but the stresses of the night before weren't helping matters. She glanced around the room, taking stock of who was there and who wasn't. Kagura's futon was of course empty, as the youkai had been changing for bed when she discovered something about a spider-shaped scar on her back. She remembered that Sesshoumaru had staggered into the room later than everyone else and was highly inebriated when he did so. Despite that fact, he had already risen and was elsewhere on the grounds. That left Akito the only other occupant of the room besides herself, and he was sleeping soundly. Whomever had set up the room placed four futons in the room since no one was sure what would happen that evening after finding out some of what was going on. Thus mats for Yurika, Kagura, Sesshoumaru, and Akito had been placed almost in the four corners of the room. Yurika could bear to not sleep by Akito's side but she couldn't have beared someone else sleeping by his side. She had almost wished for individual rooms for each of them, but she didn't trust this Kagura even though she still held absolute faith in her Akito.

She knew that she had no reason not to trust the youkai Kagura, but couldn't prevent her feelings of disquiet. It saddened her that she was grateful that the younger Inutaishou had pushed her to leave them. She knew that the debate she saw in his eyes the evening before was now showing in her own eyes. She rose and pulled the yukata she wore more closely around herself. As she headed for the door to hunt down breakfast she paused by Akito's futon to look down at his still-sleeping face. It was all that she could do not to bend down and kiss him awake, and then hold onto him tightly and never let go. But, she had won once before against stiffer competition than Kagura, competition which at one point had even included her dear Ruri-Ruri. She was not about to lose this fight, either. She listened to Akito's soft breathing for a moment longer before quietly slipping from the room.

// \\

The youkai stepped towards the door when they heard someone knock. By the jaki it was quite obviously his father, so he felt no need for more formality than necessary. He had donned more modern attire than he normally did when he didn't have to in the form of jeans and t-shirt. Ruri had wrapped a yukata around herself, so he felt it safe to let his father in.

'Baka, your hair is still soaked,' Ruri retorted, patting at her own hair with a towel.

He flashed an evil grin over his shoulder and barely gave his beloved time to raise her towel as a shield before he showed his inu heritage and flung droplets of water all over the room. Once the deluge had stopped Ruri wadded her towel and threw it at the back of the youkai's head.

"Baka," she said with a smile. Her youkai didn't bother to dodge the projectile and let it hit him in the head, catching it as it slid down his back before it hit the floor. He made no response with words but returned the smile as he tossed the damp object back to her and continued towards the door.

"Ohayo, Otou-san," he started as he opened the door.

"I have troubling news, son, daughter," Sesshoumaru said, nodding curtly to his future daughter-in-law and cutting off further pleasantries with his son.

"What is it, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Ruri asked, stepping forward to stand beside her youkai.

"I have just spoken with..." Sesshoumaru began as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He paused his speech and began poking at the switches by the door.

"Third and fourth from the right, second row?" his son suggested.

The elder hit the switches and nodded in approval. He waited until the east and west walls closed before continuing. "Arigato. I have just spoken with Urashima-sensei. It seems that every week the antiquities department has a... gathering."

Inuyasha shrugged and crossed his arms. "Every Thursday they all get stinking drunk and bitch about the administration."

After wincing, Sesshoumaru continued. "You are essentially correct, my son. Urashima attended this ritual last night and noticed one of the associate professors underneath him had isolated himself from the group."

"So?" his son responded. "It seems to me that after a colleague disappears because a demon is released that some of them would take it harder than others."

"Such was Urashima-sensei's analysis, since this was also the associate professor who located the grave."

"I was curious about that," Ruri said, echoing her betrothed's thoughts. "How _did_ they locate the grave?"

"The professor had presented Urashima-sensei with a paper which indicated there may have been several undisturbed tombs within Tokyo of 'ancient' origin," Sesshoumaru stated, smirking at the use of the word. "While he was dubious of their existence, there was enough evidence presented to merit a small dig in one location. Though there were more promising locations, the associate presenting the paper was adamant about one particular site. Urashima said that the man claimed he had a 'gut instinct' about it.

"Events from that point forward you are already aware of. However, Urashima found out last night that it was not simply a 'gut instinct' which led to Kanna's grave. That is, of course, unless your gut is made of gold," the youkai finished with a cold smile.

"Feh. So the snake shows his colors. Do we know who paid for him to find it?"

"Urashima could get no true name, as the man only was given an email address of a representative of the one paying him. He was told to simply refer to his employer as 'Hokushin.'"

Ruri's eyes narrowed coldly. "Hokushin is dead."

Sesshoumaru stepped backwards, daunted by the small woman despite himself. "I merely repeat, soon-daughter. You are sure of this?"

"Hokushin was killed by the Prince of Darkness. I saw the remnants of the body after Black Serena's fist crushed Hokushin's cockpit."

"It would appear that we are against a foe equal in cunning to Naraku," Inu said, seeking to calm the sudden anger he felt beside him. He watched as his father raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Perhaps you are correct, as the only other piece of useful information that Urashima was able to extricate during the conversation was that Naraku's release at that point was indeed an accident. The financier wished them to only recover Kanna and her mirror."

"So," his son continued, placing a hand in the small of his fiancee's back. The intended effect was achieved as he felt her relax beside him. "Hokushin's impersonator wished to play chess with his pieces but instead was forced into a game of dice."

Ruri looked up at the slightly taller man beside her. "So what do we do now?"

"Waiting is all we can do, hime-chan. This changes nothing. The _Nadesico_ is a more immediate priority right now. His hand was forced, so this impersonator will most likely be more careful and slower with his next move. One other thing I would ask, Otou-san, did you speak with Gigi of any of these matters?"

Sesshoumaru's face took on a rare look of puzzlement. "The old codger's still around here? I have yet to run into him. Besides, why would these things concern him?"

Inuyasha's and Ruri's faces both darkened at the elder's words, but said nothing as Sesshoumaru continued.

"Also, Seth mentioned something about loaning the Kanchou some 'horsepower' for Omoikane, perhaps you should see him."

// \\

Both youkai and hanyou paused in the doorway of the garage to allow their eyes to adjust to the dimmer light inside as opposed to the bright Mexican sun outside. Once their eyes adjusted, they were greeted by masses of cables pointing out in all directions from the drive arrays which contained Omoikane. Various men and women were mulling around, generally with confused looks on their faces. Seth was standing in the middle of all this, in between the cores, scratching his head.

"Yo, baka," Inutaishou called out, "having problems figuring out how to plug a hard drive in? It's not that difficult."

"One, inoocuh-row," he said, royally destroying the pronunciation, "I have a hangover. Two, no matter how we plug these damn things in, nothing boots. My comp guys have been on this since you brought these things here, three of them even skipping the party last night, and they still got nothin'."

Ruri walked down the length of one of the arrays and pulled every cable and connector that had been attached to the unit away from it. Her future mate followed suit on the opposite array.

"That's because," Ruri started, bending down and selecting the main power and data cables from the mainframe they were trying to connect to.

"You don't know how to plug the thing in," Inuyasha finished, selecting a set of power and data jumper cables from the floor and helping Ruri make the minimalist attachments. The rest of the inhabitants of the room jumped as suddenly the mainframe whirred to life and screens began popping up confirming the beginnings of the boot- and post-strap sequences. "Geez, I'd think that you of all people would have stolen information on these drives and known that there weren't standard drives in the _Nadesico_-C right now. Well, when we were on her. There aren't _any_ working drives on her now," he finished with a grin.

Ruri allowed herself a brief smile as Omoikane started returning system OK messages. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her fiance smiling down on her. 'Nice to have him back, isn't it?'

'Hai.'

// \\

Dean was at the end of his patience. Everything about the comm system should have been working properly, but without Omoikane in it, it simply refused to work. It reminded him of some of the old computer systems he used to play with growing up. Everything about them would look correct, but they just for reasons unknown would refuse to work right. He cursed in frustration and simultaneously kicked the panel and slugged Hari in the arm.

"What was that for? I didn't do anything!" Hari whined petulantly.

"Oi, Hari-kun," Saburouta said, draping himself over the back of the chair the child occupied, "you were the turncoat that helped those guys take over the ship and forced the kanchou and Omoikane off the ship. So it sort of _is_ your fault."

Hari was about to try to make some reply when the panel before them suddenly blinked to life and the quartet found themselves staring into a very familiar pale face with golden eyes and silver-blue hair.

"V," She greeted them, holding up one handin the familiar gesture.

"Kanchou!" Hari, Dean, Saburouta, and Haruko exclaimed simultaneously.

"Saburouta-san, what is the status of the ship?"

The Jovian leaned over the computer operator, pushing him out of the frame in doing so. "The ship's on a leash, but the dog catchers haven't put collars on everyone yet. Are the lovebirds okay?"

The chairman leaned over the kanchou's shoulder, his slightly lighter hair mingling with hers. "I dunno, how about it, Dean?"

Redness spread into the former Lackey's face as he cleared his throat and tried to think of some way to change the subject, but it was Hari who inadvertently came to his rescue. "Kanchou, we've been trying for days to get any of the comm systems running, why did they suddenly react?"

"I turned some of them back on," she replied, betraying no emotion. Even with his account locked out, he should have been able to at least secure one channel using Haruko's account.

Each side quickly briefed the other on the events of recent days, the two on earth silently agreeing to not mention Naraku at this point. Since the ship was being towed to earth, it was decided that the three now-conspirators and their hostage once-conspirator would remain hidden on the ship until it returned to port in Japan. The Kanchou and Chairman would return ahead of them, and help them get offship. Hari, still off-screen, wanted to plan details further, but the kanchou wouldn't plan further, or at least reveal said plan, at this point.

Finally, they took their leave of each other and signed off the secured channel. Ruri leaned back in the chair she was in, letting her head continue its path until it was resting against Inuyasha. 'Should we have told them about Naraku?'

'It would be a liability for them to know about it, and a liability to us for Makibi to know of it at all. I don't know if he's straightened out yet.'

Ruri silently agreed, feeling the disquiet in him over the whole situation with the boy. 'Let's go find Akito-san and Yurika-san,' she suggested.

He smiled down at her, 'what, you want to see if Tenkawa-san can cook as good as he used to?'

'Baka,' she replied, staring up at him and watching as he bent down to kiss her forehead. She dodged at the last second and brought her mouth to meet his, both of them happily catching from half-closed eyes blushes erupting from those around them who were pretending to not be looking.

'Happily so, hime-chan.'

// \\

Ruri breathed deeply and leaned against her koi's shoulder as the plane taxied onto the runway. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close to himself and breathing deeply of her hair. She welcomed the embrace but still disagreed with him.

Inuyasha laughed slightly and rested his chin on her head, staring out the window beside them. 'I know, hime-chan. We're wanted criminals, since everyone believes we were the conspirators who stole Omoikane, and yet we're smuggling him back into Japan under really lame monikers.'

'Hoshino Akurei and his fiancee Inutaishou Aoi? Reeeal original, baka.'

'It's amazing what you can do with a collection of fake passports, isn't it? Also helps that Seth has some experts at... creative identification... in his employ.'

She smiled slightly and took his free hand to hold in her lap as she drifted off to the engine's drone.

Across the aisle from the two Yurika smiled to herself as she watched them, remembering the happier days she and Akito had spent together. Akito, in characteristic ignorance of such matters was thumbing trough Sky Mall, and pondered as he always did when he took a commercial flight how in the world it could last fifty years, much less the several hundred it was claiming. It was utter dreg, completely worthless.

"Ne, Akito."

He guessed the airlines kept it alive so they didn't have to put real magazines on the planes.

"Ne, Akito, Akito."

It was probably just like pretzels and biscuits and the weird half-can of cola. It'd just always been done that way and "OW! What'd you do that for?" Akito asked, rubbing his head.

Yurika smiled brightly at him. "There's my Akito!" Saying the words aloud, though, caused the smile to slowly fade from her face. "I guess we should talk about that."

Akito placed the Sky Mall where he'd found it in the pocket with the emergency "you're screwed now" instructions. "Hai," he said slowly. "Meeting you... again... pieces are slowly starting to come together. Not all of them yet, but, more. I'm starting to remember you chased me for a long time before I... woke up, I guess."

He stared down at his hands in his lap and paused before continuing. "I... I can't say I love you... yet... and I can't just dismiss Kagura, but I think I..." He paused again, unsure of what to say. He watched as a slim hand crossed into his line of vision and placed itself on his own hands. He looked up to see the smile slowly return to Yurika's face.

"It's okay, Akito. We weren't made in a day the first time, we won't be made in a day the second." She let her hand linger a moment more, then softly squeezed for a moment before returning her hand to her own lap.

Behind the reunited couple, Sesshoumaru smiled and stuffed earbuds into his ears to avoid the inevitable snoring about to emanate from Greg. He thumbed up the volume knob on his player and resisted the urge to help Robert Plant with the chorus. Still not quite getting the hang of some aspects of modern life, he had forgotten to charge the player and hoped it would have enough power to keep the Lackey drowned out for most of the trip. If not, there were certainly other means of controlling snoring. Some of them rather painful.

// \\

Inutaishou Inuyasha popped any joint he could think of as they stepped out to the curb of the airport in Tokyo. Shelling out for the low-orbital flight which only took two hours was worth it, but he still hated the confinement. On the other hand, had they opted for the less expensive conventional flight it would have meant 12 hours of nothing to do but curl around Ruri, which he had no complaints about.

'Baka, I heard that.'

'I know you did. _Nadesico_ gets here when?'

'Tomorrow, I believe.'

The youkai added her bags to his own complement and they walked towards a nearby Lincoln which indicated it had been reserved under their assumed names. Greg hurried to join them after making sure the other half of their group was getting situated the Suburban.

'Ruri, do you know where they'll dock the _Nadesico_? I hadn't bothered paying attention to that part of the Nergal documentation before we had our bout of fun with Makibi and company.'

'It will probably be the same facility where I boarded the first _Nadesico_. Probably not the same dock, since it won't be moving on its own power. The facility tends to be well defended, however. How do you propose we get in there?' She asked, settling herself into the waiting transportation.

Inuyasha joined her in the car and smiled slightly. 'Beats me. We'll figure it out when we get there, I guess'

// \\

_Next up, a kidnapping in a family you do **not** want to kidnap someone from..._


	8. Kidnapped!

Ruri closed her eyes and enjoyed the night wind against her face. It had been years since he had carried her on his back across Tokyo like this, with the two red kimono bouncing across rooftops. That time, there had been a sense of panic in both of them, since they were being pursued. This time there was still a sense of urgency, but this time they were the hunters and not the prey. She lowered her head to rest it on her beloved's shoulder as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop as they raced through the industrial area towards where they knew Nadesico to be docked.

Both were still staying farther out of each other's heads than normal, despite the fact they were both remorseful for the words they had exchanged earlier. Ruri was almost as embarrassed as she was remorseful. She almost always managed to keep her emotions in check, but the passions from the house of Inutaishou occasionally seeped through her mind. First was her outburst on the ship against the whole situation with Naraku, and this afternoon she had let loose a second outburst. This one had been aimed squarely at her fiance.

'Ruri, do you want to talk about it?'

'No, but we should.'

lighted on a roof near the front gate to the Nergal/USEF facitilty where they could hide in shadow and await the arrival of their bait.

'Gomen nasai, Inuyasha, for yelling at you.'

You have nothing to apologize for, Ruri. The family of Inutaishou tends to be a little off of level-headed in arguments.'

She slid down his back to support herself on her own legs for a few minutes. 'It's your... job, not mine. She returned. I have no business telling you how to run your business.'

'That's not the issue and you know it, Ruri-Ruri.' He sat down at the edge of the shadow and crossed his legs. 'I disregarded your opinions on the matter, that was the problem as I see it.'

She sat beside him and leaned against his shoulder. 'I just felt that you should have at least had some kind of response to being... 'usurped',' she continued, throwing in the English concept.

He smiled ''Usurped' probably isn't the right word, Ruri, at least not yet. Someone's pulling the strings of all of this, but they haven't come forward to take over Nergal yet. They've just removed me from the presidency of the company. You felt I should have done something to defend myself, and you're probably right now that I think about it. I guess I just wanted to avoid a bunch of media about it, as there'd been enough of a dog-and-pony show as it was. I guess I choose to allow this to happen because if we drag all of this out into the light, and make a media show out of it, then our marriage would become a media show.'

'The President of Nergal marries The Electronic Fairy,' Ruri thought, with more than a hint of bitterness towards viewing it that way.

'Hai. I didn't want that to happen. But instead of having this discussion then, I brushed off what you thought about it. Gomen nasai, Ruri.'

She raised her head and gently kissed him on the cheek. 'Baka baka.'

He smiled and kissed her forehead, and as he did so his ears caught the sound of an approaching vehicle whose exhaust note he recognized. "Showtime," he murmured, checking Tenseiga at his hip. Ruri nodded, shrugging Tetsusaiga a little higher on her shoulder. She hadn't wanted to carry it, her youkai had insisted.

For a moment, Greg paid more attention to the youkai seated next to him than he did to his own purposefully erratic driving. The plan had been for himself and Sesshoumaru to act inebriated at the front gate to allow nii-san and nee-san to slip into the base, but it appeared that the elder youkai might be improvising. He had popped open one of the unopened bottles of beer they had in the vehicle and splashed a little on Greg. That part made sense to the Lackey. How were you going to act drunk without the smell of alcohol on you? However, the youkai had proceeded to finish off the bottle of beer himself, and was currently following it with a fifth of vodka.

Greg slid the Suburban around the last corner which brought the gate into view. "You know, beer after liquor never sicker, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru ever so gracefully opened the sunroof to the vehicle. "Yes. For humans."

Greg sighed as the youkai stood and raised himself through the sunroof, vodka in hand. At least the guards were buying it. A little weaving here and there. Ooo! Trash can near the edge of the road! "Ah, authenticity," Greg murmered.

The guards cautiously raised their weapons at the vehicle, and Greg chose to yank the emergency brake and the steering wheel, sliding the truck to a rest right in front of the gate. Yep, radioing for backup, he noticed. One of the guards was approaching the driver's door, so he lowered his window and half flopped out it.

"Even'in, ofishur. Howsh th' weather?"

"May I see some ID, sir?"

Sesshoumaru leaned over the top of the vehicle towards the officer. "How about I give you the finger, and you give me my phone call?"

"Uh, sir?"

"Why don' you boysh have a drink with ush, huh? We gotsh good vodka. Or haduh, if my budduh didn' drin' all uh it," Greg said, hoping the youkai wasn't about to do something foolish.

"Ooooh yeeeah," Sesshoumaru said. "I'm shuposhed to shay that after you arsh't me. My bad, boysh."

"Would you to gentlemen slowly step out of your vehicle?"

Sesshoumaru slid himself out the top of the vehicle and down its side. Greg stepped from the driver's side door. The human watched as Sesshoumaru drew himself up to his full height and straightened his robes in a very un-drunken manner. Greg was suddenly glad that the suburban was armored. The youkai's coolness had returned to his eyes.

"I believe a more appropriate quote right now might be, 'I know kung-fu, f00.'"

The gate officer was slowly backing away, and welcomed the sound of reinforcements arriving in jeeps behind him. "Oh you do?"

"You're supposed to say 'show me,'" Sesshoumaru said and lunged forward, catching the man in the chest with a blow which knocked the guard a good two meters backwards. This was apparently a cue to the rest of guards to open fire. Greg managed to curse as he dove under the vehicle to avoid the rain of bullets which flew at them. Sesshoumaru chose to invoke youkai reflexes and easily dodged the shots which threatened to strike him.

On the rooftop, Ruri climbed onto her love's back. 'You're father's being dramatic again.'

'Hai,' He replied, and leapt over the fence beside them and into the compound. They ducked and dodged from shadow to shadow, the business at the front gate causing anyone they saw to be paying more attention to helping that mess than looking for more intruders. They found the ship easily enough and crossed the gangway leading to one of the airlock doors.

'Great,' Ruri thought sarcastically, looking at the clamps holding the door secure. 'How do we get in now?'

"Feh, did you forget already what we did to the old drive cores?" the youkai replied, not bothering to slow down. He crossed his arms in front of his face and when he reached the door slashed glowing steel claws into the metal before him. Ruri smiled slightly in amusement as her youkai imitated his uncle as they passed through the now missing door. The inner airlock door probably could have just been pried open, but the youkai apparently felt the need to show off for Ruri. He punched a bare fist into the door and felt it crumple before him. They then found themselves staring at a tall, blond Jovian officer.

"What took you so long? Take the scenic route? Or stop to take in some scenery?"

The youkai straightened and felt Ruri lower herself to the decking. "Saburouta-san, you're the original ecchi, did anybody ever tell you that?"

"A couple of times, I think. Oi! Dean-san! Haruko-san! Grab the Turncoat and say 'ja ne!'"

The trio appeared from a side corridor when called, one of them looking rather sullen at being in the presence of his captain again, the other two relieved to just be getting out of the ship. Dean waved the once-forgotten file in the air. "Let's get outta here before we're discovered."

The group headed back out the shattered entry to the ship and down the gangplank towards solid ground. Halfway down the plank Inuyasha, who was in front, suddenly stopped. Ruri was momentarily distracted and staring out over the water when he stopped, and softly bumped into him.

"Nani, Inu-chan?"

The youkai smiled, knowing she was not a fan of calling him "cutesy" names. 'Trying to get Makibi's goat? Ruri-chan, you're mean.'

'Am I?'

'Yes, you are.'

'I suppose I am.'

"Anyways, looks like we have some company."

At the foot of the ramp had gathered several guards, one of which was armed with a bullhorn. "Inutaishou-san, please come quietly. You're trespassing on Government and Nergal property. If you do not come quietly-"

"Baka," The youkai replied. He thumbed Tenseiga loose in its sheath and darted down the walkway. The guards' shrieks were quickly cut short as the rose-colored light flashed through their bodies, rendering blows which with an ordinary sword would have left a sea of blood in the youkai's wake. The five humans quickly followed behind him, all running towards the facility's exit and the waiting Sesshoumaru and Greg.

Ruri almost bumped into Inuyasha again when he suddenly stopped a second time. They were within sight of the gate, and there was no one unexpected in sight. A waiting Sesshoumaru and Greg were all she could see stirring, other than a pile of beaten guards mounded near the gate. She saw Sesshoumaru suddenly move from leaning casually against a vehicle to ramrod straight with Toukijin in his hand. She heard Inuyasha beside her sheathe the Tenseiga, and then sensed what he sensed. It was youki. A lot of it, seemingly from many different sources. She pulled the sleeping Tetsusaiga from her back, feeling it awaken for the second time since they had last fought side by side. She felt nostalgic for a moment, remembering that the fight which had, for lack of a better word, doomed them to the relationship they shared now.

It was only a few moments before the humans were able to catch up with what the instincts demon blood was telling, at least at some level. The sky around them was suddenly illuminated by hundreds of glowing orbs, all of which seemed to be heading for their position. Without thinking, the kanchou swing her sword and struck the oncoming wind scar and killing scores of the enemy in a blaze of demonic power. Dean and Greg recognized them for what they were, but Saburouta, Haruko, and Hari didn't fully understand what they were until the giblets from Ruri's strike began to rain down a few moments later. 

Suddenly they were surrounded. Baser youkai swarmed around them. Ruri was swinging madly, her mind numb and telling her what she was doing wasn't... couldn't be happening. Demons like this only existed in Sengoku Jidai, not here, not now. The only youkai that still existed were ones like the one she was about to marry and his father. She knew in her periphery that Inuyasha killing far more of the demons surrounding them than she was, and he was fighting bare-clawed. She was aware of Williams, the Lackey, and Saburouta-san firing weapons and not doing much good. She sensed through her love that Sesshoumaru was fighting his way towards them. She didn't know where Greg was, but could only assume that the Suburban would be making an appearance shortly. 

Just as suddenly as they were surrounded, the masses backed away and parted in front of them. Ruri started to run for the gap, but was grabbed by her soon-mate.

"'They're not parting for us,'" he said carefully as she felt him tense, the opposite of what she had felt from him when Kagura had changed. This was part of the darkness she could not explain to Yurika, and it frightened her. Not enough to distrust him; distrusting him was almost impossible when he couldn't lie to her. 

The ground rumbled around them, bringing Ruri's mind back to the scene before her. Out of the darkness loomed a giant of a demon, probably 6 or 7 meters tall. Its face bore the shape of a wolf's, and it's nearly-human body was armoured in ancient armour. Its hand-like paws grasped a Chinese-style sword which looked for all the world like a gargantuan version of Toukijin.

Inuyasha found himself wishing he had brought more than Tenseiga with him as he unsheathed the sword and held it before him. He heard his father yell and turned his head to see Toukijin hurtling towards him. He quickly sheathed his own blade and snatched the possessed weapon from the air. The smaller of the two combatants didn't wait for an pleasantries to be exchanged, he simply swung the weapon in a vicious ark towards the larger youkai, letting the weapon's anger unleash itself without restraint for the first time in centuries. His mind had strengthened greatly since the last time he held his father's sword, as this time he had no problems controlling it instead of it controlling him.

To his dismay, however, Toukijin did not carve a path of destruction through his enemy, but only caused cracks and splintering to appear in its armour. The wolf demon bellowed mocking laughter at Inuyasha

"Is that all you have, puppy? Maybe I shouldn't use my sword against you, maybe I should just stomp on you a few times and send you home to your daddy, ne?" Intent on carrying this out, he raised his massive foot to stomp, but came down only on pavement. He found the smaller opponent racing up his leg, slicing deep wounds with the possessed sword and striking at the sides of the massive youkai's chest before leaping elegantly back to the ground.

"Well, I see you've got some spunk. This may be interesting after all, I think," the demon roared with another barrage of laughter. The demon cut off his laughter at the sound of an approaching engine, and turned to face the oncoming noise. Inuyasha did not recognize the note, but saw soon enough that it was a one of the few Maybachs that Nergal owned. It plowed through the ranks of demons still encircling the group and slid to a stop near where Hoshino and Saburouta were standing. The rear door flung open and the front window rolled down to reveal an all-too-familiar face, that of Akatsuki Nagare.

"Youkoso!" the former president yelled, his meaning clear.

"Saburouta, go with Ruri," the fiance ordered of the bodyguard. "I'll finish this then we'll catch up with you."

The Jovian nodded, and Ruri acquiesced and moved to get into the vehicle. She paused, seeing someone else in the backseat, but with Saburouta close behind was forced to continue entering the car. Neither of the betrothed trusted Akatsuki, but both trusted him more than Naraku at this point. The youkai turned to resume his fight when he felt shock come to him from Ruri's mind.

'Kagura!'

"'N-nani?'" The demon replied, spinning back to face the car. He looked again at Akatsuki's face, and saw something he'd never expected to see. The face was remorseful and apologetic. He saw through Ruri's eyes Kagura move forward in the vehicle to place an ether-soaked cloth over Ruri's face and saw as she passed out Saburouta moving to try to defend her. He could see his reason for stopping, as Akatsuki was leveling a gun at the man's head as the car moved to escape.

"Ruri!" He screamed, moving to try to intercept the car. Before he could do anything he felt his whole right side explode in pain and his knees buckled under him. He looked down to see his opponent's massive weapon protruding from his abdomen and heard the obnoxious roar of laughter behind him.

"Maybe you aren't so much of a challenge, if you care more about trying to protect that human woman than you are preserving your own life!" It moved to twist the sword in the wound but found it could not move the sword. Inuyasha had wrapped his hands around it, and with a burst of strength forced the weapon to leave his body the way it came.

"Feh. I'm far from dead," he grunted. "I don't think you know what my family is... or you wouldn't say crap like that." He shakily rose to his feet and turned to face his opponent. The wolf had glee on his face, thinking he was about to watch the youkai no inu fall over dead. "I... am of the house... of Inutaishou, and... I will protect that human... even if it means... losing my own life."

Anger flared in the demon's eyes toward the massive opponent and he let the youkai blood boil in his veins. The blood of his mizu no youkai mother asserted itself and the wound began to repair itself, his marrow increasing its production of blood to protect his life. Winds began to swirl around him and his features began to morph. Sesshoumaru motioned to the two adults with him and grabbed Hari by the shirt collar as the quartet headed for the waiting Suburban.

Haruko paused only to find herself being dragged by Dean as soon as she stopped moving. "But... shouldn't we help him?"

"Yes, but right now that means staying the hell out of his way."

"Why? He's just one man against an army of demons?"

They had reached the suburban, and Sesshoumaru looked at her oddly for a moment before answering the question in lieu of Dean answering. "He is not one man against an army of youkai, he is a youkai of the house of Inutaishou against an army of lesser, baser youkai."

Haruko blinked in confusion and looked back at the battle in time to see a second monster appear, seemingly out of the ground. The second demon was more canine than wolf with white fur covering its massive body. This one was even larger than the first and bore no weapons that she could see. She also could not see the dark red kimono anywhere. "He doesn't stand a chance against two of them! We have to _do_ something!"

Sesshoumaru for his part was openly in shock and took a few steps forward, disbelieving what he was seeing. He regained his composure and turned with characteristic coolness to address the human a few feet from him. "There is no second demon. That," he said, pausing dramatically, "is my son Inuyasha in his full form."

Even Dean was confused now. "But, Sesshoumaru-sama, you told me that his full form was like your own, that it was a really big dog."

"You are correct. It was a 'really big dog,' as you put it. However, in the time since he visited Sengoku Jidai he has not assumed his full form. I believe that casting Mizu no Shi awakened abilities in him which he was previously unable to tap, and since that time has had no reason to use them further. It is also true that this clan is not limited to merely two forms, as I know of at least three that my great and terrible father was capable of assuming." He turned back to face the battle, and watched with demonic joy in his eyes as the now-smaller youkai took a few steps backwards. "I-nu-yasha. Those bearing that name never cease to amaze me."

The younger youkai, though unaware of the conversation his father was involved in, was more surprised than any of them at the form he assumed. He quickly came to the same conclusion that his father did, that Mizu no Shi had awakened in him abilities which he had heretofore been unaware of. He glanced around him, and noticed the baser youkai around them fleeing for their existence. He stretched new muscles and felt with some relief all of the wound disappear from his side. Though he hated his mother and grandmother, the sorcery of mizu youkai was often of use in times like these.

The he looked to his opponent, the flames of hell burning in his eyes. "And now, you die, ookami-koro."

The wolf swung his sword at the Inutaishou, but, sensing no sorcery from the blade, Inuyasha merely raised a massive white arm in defense. The blade shattered against his forearm, leaving not even as much as a scratch on the transformed youkai. The inu no youkai sprung forward, catching the wrist of the arm still clutching the broken sword and dragging the ookami no youkai towards him. The frightened demon swung his free fist towards his captor, who easily caught it in his hand-like paw. "I care not for trickery, and do not appreciate being baited," he said simply to the struggling youkai before him.

Desperate, the ookami tried to lunge forward to bite the inu's neck.

"Too slow," Inuyasha snorted.

From her vantage point, the most sadistic gunner in Nergal felt her stomach churn at the sight before her, knowing what was about to happen. The wolf demon had lunged towards Inuyasha's neck, the only attack he had left with his arms locked by the inu no youkai's. Inuyasha, however, had easily dodged the blow and used the attack to his advantage, locking his vicious maw around his would-be attacker's head. She heard the sound of bones cracking as the youngest Inutaishou closed his jaws around his opponent's skull.

Dean found Haruko suddenly leaning against him as he watched the final moments of the battle. He couldn't blame her for not watching when he himself wanted to turn away from it. He kept his eyes open to see his boss suddenly throw his opponent backwards, while still holding onto the dying head. He heard the only sound worse than bone crushing, that of flesh ripping as the head dislodged from its owner.

Inuyasha stood staring at the headless corpse before him, the only thing running through his mind was the fact that he was grateful that Ruri was unconscious at the moment. As he felt her mind with his, it reminded him of his humanity. He spat out the head he had still been holding in his mouth, and let himself sink to his knees on the concrete slab that was now covered in blood. He felt familiar winds whirl around him as he regained his human shape. He placed his hands against the ground. He braced himself against it, panting for air and spitting out hair from his dead opponent. He looked up a few moments later to see his father standing before him, Toukijin and Tenseiga both at his side.

Sesshoumaru looked down, betraying no emotion to his son. His son caught enough breath to speak, and sought to convey what he had gathered from Ruri before she was rendered unconscious. "Kagura was in that car, Sesshoumaru-sama. Apparently Nergal is somehow aiding him."

"And your predecessor at Nergal is now our enemy?"

The younger Inutaishou slowly stood. "'Predecessor' implies I'm still chairman," he said, regaining some of his late uncle's cockiness. His expression softened. "No, I don't think he's an enemy in this. I believe Naraku is using him against his will."

"That may be so, or it may not be. Come, we should return home. We will hear from Naraku soon enough, since he now holds Hoshino-san hostage." Sesshoumaru turned and addressed Dean and Greg, jerking his head towards the ground where the Maybach had stopped momentarily. "One of you collect the Tetusaiga and Hanyou's Protector. Hoshino-san apparently lost them as she was entering the vehicle."

// \\

Inutaishou Inuyasha opened his eyes and surveyed his once-clean study. it was now littered with maps and geological surveys of the area around Tokyo. Three days and he and Ruri had yet to figure out where in the world they had taken her.

'At least I know you're safe.'

'Saburouta-san would be hurt if he thought you didn't care about his welfare,' she teased.

'I'm not engaged to him, though.'

'Point,' Ruri replied. 'If you were engaged to him to we'd need to talk.'

'Indeed,' Inuyasha said, then shifted his mind to go back through facts they'd already been over. 'I just wish that I could place where you are. It sounds very familiar to me. A large underground chamber made of solid marble. I know it from somewhere but I just can't place it.'

'Naraku should move soon, though. At least he did in all the stories you relayed to me.'

'True. And this is a plot he's already used once, with Rin and Sesshoumaru. I don't know if even knows he's reusing it.'

'And that has you nervous.'

'Exactly. He's a schemer by nature, so the question is, am I analyzing his moves or over-analyzing them? If I'm right, he expects us to come to him to find your whereabouts, and he'll have you at a different location, where we can't just grab you and leave. At the same time, since he's done that before, he may expect us to go for you first and be waiting for us at your location.'

'So what do we do?'

'What I'm doing is simple. As soon as I know where you are I'm rescuing you. Whether I'm right or not about Naraku is irrelevant, because if I go where he is, he'll have Kagura kill you. So I have to get to you before I get to him.'

Ruri distanced herself from her own situation and looked at it as objectively as she could. 'He may have me killed before he comes to get you.'

'That's too dangerous to him. You're a hostage, hime-chan, and while you're alive he has bargaining power. If he harms you-' Inuyasha cut himself off and marshalled his thoughts. 'We know what will happen to him.'

// \\

The four sat around the table as mirror images of each other, their hands at their temples and their elbows on the table before them. The entire time Inutaishou Inuyasha had sat and meditated in his room, Yurika and Akito found themselves with little else to do but pore over the file Dean had returned with. Dean and Greg had both joined the two in going over the file as well, since their boss wasn't giving them any work.

He had certainly given plenty of instructions on the first day, and the quasi-matching BMWs were waiting in the garage, each with its own parcels of goods inside. After that, however, the house had lapsed into something of a gloomy silence. Sesshoumaru spent the better part of the past two day preparing extravagant meals in order to stay out of the way of the Tenkawas in the dining room and his son in the younger's study. Makibi and Williams had opted to stay in Sesshoumaru's way for fear of getting in someone else's.

At this point the extraneous pair were watching Sesshoumaru flip something pancake-like in a skillet when they heard Yurika slam her hands against the table in frustration.

"None of this makes any sense!"

Dean pulled a well-chewed pencil from his mouth before speaking. "I guess that's partially the point. Even in Nergal's own files, the truth is buried under a mountain of lies and half-truths."

Greg nodded in agreement. "The only thing we have now that we know for sure is what Tenkawa-san can remember."

Akito sighed and stared at the ceiling. "And that's nothing, really. I can't even remember this 'Black Serena' I keep seeing mentioned."

Hari, having overheard all of it, characteristically burst at Akito. "How could you not remember! How could you forget the Kanchou being mad at you for never contacting her after you didn't die in the shuttle? How could you forget being the Prince of Darkness?"

"Makibi-baka! You are errant in your history!" The table turned to see Inuyasha enter the room, uncharacteristically garbed in black silk haori and similar trousers. They were unsure whether to be more shocked at the bizarre manner of dress or his emergence from his quarters as he continued. "Yes, Kanchou was angry with him, but not over that."

"How would you know? You don't know the Kanchou! You just showed up and... and..."

"Feh," The demon snorted and waved his hand dismissively, giving up on imitating the manners of his father. "If you're going to get all petty on me, you're not worth being polite to. Besides, I don't have time to argue with children."

Hari started to snarl but jumped as Sesshoumaru brushed past him. "We are about to have guests, are we not?"

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama."

"Very well. Greet him. I will join you. Makibi-san, you should know that my son knew Hoshino-san before you met her, and they have an... understanding, one that you could not hope to grasp. That it would appear to you that he simply 'showed up' and 'swept' Hoshino-san 'off her feet' says to this Sesshoumaru that you do not know the lady as well as you belive that you do." Sesshoumaru walked from the room wearing a small smile which only Greg and Yurika were in a position to see.

// \\

Inuyasha stood on the lawn in front of his father's house awaiting Naraku's puppet. They'd been expecting it these three days and it was finally approaching. Had he not been able to smell Kagura after she changed, he might have missed the scent until it came much closer. In a sense, he wasn't pleased that he had sensed it so early. Upstairs in his study it was more like when she was out in space. They were both in quiet rooms (when Saburouta shut up) and were able to talk freely with each other as they each tried to gather what they could about where she was.

Out here, however, standing in the same spot where she first performed Kaze no Kizu, he became aware of just how keenly he missed being beside her. 

'I know, Inu,' she felt into his mind. She paused before continuing, 'Do you ever wish we'd stayed like we were then?'

'Freezing ourselves in time? Only on days like today where I'm feeling really selfish,' the youkai admitted, scanning across the horizon. 'Still, you were the one that broke the backs of the Successors, and you were the one who rescued Yurika. Granted, if we'd stayed in Sengoku Jidai our relationship probably would have evolved into what it is now. But I think our own time needs you and me more than that time would have needed us. Besides, do you think you'd really have been happy with that?'

'Ever baka-senpai.'

"'As always,'" he murmured in reply, and finally caught a glimpse of something approaching on the horizon. As it approached he recognized the form he'd always heard tales of from his uncle and father, that of the writhing mass of youkai that was the demon puppetry Naraku always used. He thumbed loose his katana as his father stepped up beside him.

'Be careful, Inuyasha,'

'I will, I promise.'

"I do not expect much fight. The puppet should be easy to defeat." Sesshoumaru stated flatly.

"The puppet at the heart?"

"Hai." They waited as the mass approached and descended through the mid-morning sky. 

"Well, I see that my favorite youkai no inu survived all the way up to this era. One of you has even managed to get rid of the tasteless red kimono he used to wear. Good, you'll make quite excellent additions to my reconstructed self."

"So where should we go to add ourselves?" The younger sneered as he began walking towards the being, "because before you think about absorbing me, I'd like to whack a few pieces out of you first."

"Hasty, aren't we? It is fortunate then that the temple of five arches is only a few days' walk from here."

The younger youkai smirked slightly at the hanyou's failure to grasp modern transportation. "I suppose it is," he returned.

Sesshoumaru thought he saw another expression flash across his son's face, but it was gone too quickly for him to catch it. "Puppet, have you anything else to tell us?"

"I'll give you a fight if that's what you're after, 'old friend,' but I certainly have no intention of destroying you here. As I said, you'll make fine additions to this Naraku." With that, the monster flung his mould-like tentacles at the pair.

Both youkai no inu easily dodged the attack. Sesshoumaru withdrew Toukijin from his side and swung it into the writhing mass before him. The younger loosed his katana and followed in his father's wake.

"I have one question left before destroying you, puppet," Sesshoumaru yelled as he ran. "Where is Hoshino-san?"

"She is near me and safe... if you hurry," the puppet said with all of the evil of its master. Sesshoumaru swung again, opening a path almost all of the way to the puppet's wooden heart. Inuyasha leapt up and over his father to use a simple but efficient battojutsu maneuver, slicing through the remainder of the puppet and breaking its master's control of it.

The houseguests watched in mute shock as the two demons calmly returned their weapons to their sides as former parts and entrails fell softly to the ground around them.

"I am surprised that you did not inquire more diligently of Hoshino-san's whereabouts," Sesshoumaru commented, brushing a few pieces off which had fallen onto his shoulder.

Inuyasha turned and headed towards the house. "I didn't need to. A few kilometers from the Temple of Five Arches is a rather unique shrine, one which is composed of several small silos carved from solid marble and buried in something of an underground labyrinth."

The group at the doorway heard all of this as the pair approached the house. Haruko, with a slightly puzzled expression on her face, spoke first. "Wouldn't Naraku have the kanchou near him so that he could... better use her as a hostage?"

smiled slightly at the woman's attempt to dodge around what could be a rather painful thought. Ruri valued directness and honestly over tact, and his next words reflected the fact that he tended to share her belief. "You mean kill her if we don't show up? You forget, Naraku is not human. If a human leaves hostages in the care of another human, the second human could betray the first. However, as much as she may desire otherwise, Kagura cannot betray Naraku, no matter how much pain it might bring her."

Fire flashed in Akito's eyes. Even if his memories of the past were awakening within him, he still cared for Kagura. "Then we should kill Naraku first and free Kagura!"

Akito stepped forward as if to challenge Inuyasha but found the elder Inutaishou and Yurika blocking his path. Yurika's eyes pleaded but it was the demon who spoke. "Naraku has tried to use this plot before. He kidnapped Rin and at the moment my brother and I were about to destroy him, he ordered one of his minions to kill her. He forced me to leave to defend her so that could escape. He would seek to do the same again, this I am certain of."

lit a cigarette and leaned against the door frame. "So, nii-san, what do we do?"

// \\

_Next up, rescue missions..._


	9. Let's Go with ColdBlooded Demon Fights!

Aktio was once again counting the reasons that he hated inertia. At least he was beginning to remember why he hated it in the first place. Being slung around the back of the BMW belonging to the younger youkai no inu brought flashbacks of being slammed around the cockpit of his Aesti. Yurika, on the other hand, was apparently having flashbacks of rollercoasters, which was the only explanation he could give for the fact that she had convinced their inhuman driver to open every window in the car plus the sunroof. Several times as they ducked and dodged through traffic he had to admonish her to please keep all of her limbs inside of the vehicle.

Inuyasha was only peripherally aware of the events occurring inside of his vehicle. Ruri was listening to it with some amusement through his ears, but he was more concerned with arriving at their destination in one piece than Yurika's love of roller coasters and Akito's lack of such for inertia. It wasn't so much other drivers that worried him so much as it was the Black M3 with purple ghost flames mirroring his M5's garnet ones. He was grateful that at least there didn't tend to be very many traffic officers on this particular road.

Akito leaned forward into the front seat and tried to be oblivious to Yurika's swirling hair, which had decided to swirl its way into his face. "Isn't our exit coming up soon?"

"Hai," the youkai responded calmly.

"So, shouldn't we be someplace other than the inside lane?"

"Hai," the youkai repeated as calmly as before. Then, betraying that demeanor, he jerked his hand down and shoved the transmission into the next gear, throwing Akito back into his seat and Yurika into another fit of gleeful screaming. As Inuyasha dove the vehicle across the lanes of traffic Akito's voice joined his wife's, although there was a different emotion behind it.

Greg sat beside Sesshoumaru in the elder's vehicle and watched his boss' M5 exit the freeway. He and Dean had both agreed with nii-san when he said he intended to go alone to free nee-san. He didn't need anyone to watch his back on the way in and Saburouta could watch it on the way out. The Lackeys would better help by visiting Naraku with Sesshoumaru to keep the bastard occupied while the kanchou's escape was effected.

Yurika, however, did not see things exactly the same way, which was the reason she was not informed of the plan until the originally-intended groups were getting into their vehicles. Not that it made any difference to the outcome. The youngest member of the household was as weak to a woman's tears as his father, uncle, and grandfather were.

// \\

Inuyasha killed the engine and let the car roll forward of its own volition for the last few feet. The Tenkawas followed his lead as he stepped from the vehicle and onto the gravely roadside. It seemed as if the road hadn't been repaired in fifty years and saw little use during that time, which would explain why Naraku would choose to use the ruins ahead for his own purposes. He walked around behind the vehicle and opened the trunk while Yurika and Akito walked ahead a few feet, exploring the area.

"Akito..." Yurika started but let hang as she admired the trees around her.

"Hai, Yurika-san?" Akito returned.

Yurika turned her head to face him as the walked and smiled warmly as she took his arm. "Akito, you don't have to call me 'Yurika-san,' How about just 'Yurika'?"

Akito let the smile infect his face slightly as he nodded in acknowledgement. Yurika felt some of the lingering sadness leave herself as she saw the smile of the man she loved and married, not the dark and vengeful man Ruri had told her of.

For his part, Akito guessed at the question she had not asked. "Seeing Hoshino-san helped me to remember, and meeting you... again... has helped too. I don't remember everything, but I do remember you, Hoshino-san, and Ryoko-san. I remember Ai, fighting Jovians, and Gai. I... I remember marrying you, and I remember getting onto the shuttle, but after that... It's like I can't pull it out from the back of my brain. I know it's there, I just can't get to it."

Yurika nodded and looked out at the trees around them again as they walked a little further down the road. She curled her arms more tightly around his and leaned her head against his shoulder before continuing. "I know you're not entirely the Akito I knew, at least not yet. I know I'm not entirely the woman you knew, either. What we went through... I don't think anyone could go through that unscarred. I can only imagine how much worse it was for Lapis Lazuli. As fragile as Ruri-Ruri is..."

"Ruri is far less fragile and you know it, even though sometimes we do not respect her as such. If Lapis is anything like Ruri, she will survive." The couple turned and for a moment did not recognize the owner if they recognized his voice. His formerly odd black raiment now was explained as it formed the underlayer of the armour he now wore. Had he been arrayed like this when Ruri announced their intentions, Yurika would have had serious objections.

An evilly-grinning demon skull appeared to be gnawing on his left shoulder, its fangs centering themselves around his arm and leading to the demonhide and titanium pieces which were wrapped around his upper and lower arms. His sword arm was swathed in a leather similar to his left but with none of the metal, while more demon bones, wrapped in composites, formed gauntlets around his wrists.

Even though she found the arms and similar legs of the armour disturbing, she found the torso and helm even more so. The closest thing Yurika had ever seen to Inu's chest armour was the armour she saw Sesshoumaru put on all those years ago when he went to the Higurashi shrine to await Ruri's and Inuyasha's return. Like that armour, Inuyasha's "breastplate" had razor-sharp spikes protruding from it at regular intervals, but whereas the elder wore a single band around his chest, his son seemed to be wearing the entire ribcage of some long-dead beast.

The helm was to both Yurika and Akito the most frightening of all. Even though it didn't appear to have any shred of demon bone or hide, it was styled in such a way that it seemed as though it were forged of them. Though the armour in pieces was not styled as such, when combined with the white hair cascading from the helm and his golden eyes it gave Inuyasha the appearance of being a samurai of the damned.

Ruri had been peripherally aware of the armour's existence. She knew that it had been commissioned by him and forged several years before they had met. It had been an attempt by Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru to quietly keep some of the ancient smithing techniques alive. The armour held nothing like the power of the Tenseiga or Tetsusaiga inside of it, but neither youkai had ever seriously expected the armour to ever be worn as intended.

'Do you really think the dangers between us are that great?'

'Honestly? I don't know. I sincerely hope not, and that I'm being over-precautious. However, this is Naraku we're dealing with.'

'Hai. Even if he doesn't understand modern technology-'

'- we should not underestimate him.'

Inuyasha paused and shifted the small pack on his back which was the cloak Ruri had worn in Sengoku Jidai years ago before continuing. "Akito-san, Yurika-san, stay here." He tossed each of them a small distortion field generator and headset. "The headsets are -"

"No." Both men looked at Yurika, one in startled confusion and one in resignation. It was the latter who spoke.

"Yurika-san... mama... you know what happened at Ruri's abduction, and after. At best, this will be no different, and I'm not expecting the best to happen."

"Ruri is as much mine as she is yours. I have as much right to go in there as you do," she replied pointedly.

One of the demon's eyebrows arched upwards. "I don't disagree with you, but I don't think it's a question of right. I may not know exactly what I'll be facing in there, but I am certain that very little of it will be human."

"So, it's dangerous, big deal. It's not anything that-"

"Fine," Inuyasha replied with more snarl than he would have liked, cutting her off. He pulled his helm's faceplate from its home at the base of his neck and tossed it to Yurika. "Akito-san, you're comfortable with a stick, ne?"

"H-Hai," Akito stammered in reply and stepped forward when the demon proffered the keys. Inuyasha then reached behind him and withdrew a weapon from underneath the cloak folded on his back. He checked the chamber then handed it to Akito, who hardened his face and nodded in reply.

"Keep the channel on that headset open. If everything goes south, you're it. Sesshoumaru-sama, Dean and Greg will be monitoring but are too far away to help." The two locked eyes for a moment, each sizing the other up. Then without warning Inuyasha turned and walked towards the forest's edge, thumbing the hammer loop off of his revolver as he walked. "Yurika-san! Youkoso! Ruri's getting impatient."

'Baka.'

'Hai. How's Saburouta-san doing?'

'Bored. But he's only hit on Kagura-san four times.'

'Only four?'

'Fuujin no Mai discouraged him without leaving any permanent damage.'

Inuyasha laughed softly to himself. "'I see.'"

Yurika jogged to catch up to his side. "Nani?"

The demon shook his head slightly as they walked. "Nothing. Just something Ruri said is all."

Yurika walked quietly beside him for a while before saying anything further. "Inuyahsa-kun... will you tell me everthing about what happened in Sengoku Jidai? Everything that you couldn't tell Akito and I then?"

Inuyasha resigned himself and began retelling the story of his grandmother as they picked their way through the ever-denser underbrush. There were several parts that brought redness to both or either of the espoused, but Yurika was now aware of the story in its entirety.

"Did you always intend to marry Ruri-chan?" she asked when he had finished. Knowing their destination was at hand, Inuyasha chose to stop and stand before her to answer the question.

"Always? No." He reflected a moment before continuing. "Ruri may die of embarrassment before we get a chance to save her. Gomen, Ruri. To directly answer you, Yurika-san, it was shortly after Ruri rescued you that I cemented my decision that I wished to marry her. I did always love her, but until then it was more the love you hold for her than the one I now have. I know that at first she did have a school girl's crush on me. That cooled and matured into a friendship... kinship... that was and is irreplaceable... We should keep moving. We're almost there. Keep that mask ready. It can protect you from any poisonous fumes a demon may throw at us."

They pushed past the last of the underbrush and found themselves confronted by a high stone wall. They looked to each side and saw that the wall continued for some distance, with encroaching forest preventing them from seeing any corner or curve in the wall.

"Which way do to go, Inu-kun?" Yurika asked, still looking from side to side.

The youkai craned his neck backwards. "Up."

"Nani?" Yurika asked, looking up to the top of the wall with him. She suddenly let out a yelp of surprise when she felt her future son-in-law's arm slide around her waist. Her struggle to get out of the embrace reversed itself when she suddenly felt herself leaving the ground.

She yelped again and clung to his neck, almost knocking him off balance mid-leap. He landed on top of the wall, balancing gingerly with Yurika still glomping his neck. Inuyasha surveyed the grounds below them, trying to fetch as much of the ruins' layout as he could from his memories of visiting here as a young child. Satisfied he was familiar enough, he leapt down and released Yurika when on solid ground again.

The demon looked in both directions then headed towards the entrance, thumbing his katana loose in its sheath. Yurika paused for a second, then hurried to catch up with him.

"Inu-kun, why didn't we just drive up the front gate?" she asked as they jogged. She was a little more breathless than she would have liked, but running every morning didn't prepare one to keep up with a demon. The youkai ahead of her paused, sniffing the air.

"Would have, had the wind not been blowing straight into the gate."

"Nan da?"

"Going in this way, I smell them before they smell me." the demon punctuated the sentence by beginning to climb a nearby section of ruin which gently sloped upwards. Yurika followed a short distance behind, grateful he'd slowed his pace. She watched as he paused a short distance behind what looked like the edge of the ruin they were on.

Inuyasha closed his eyes as he crouched near the edge without risking looking over it. The wind was still to his face and he was fairly certain that his first opponent hadn't sensed him yet. At least, there had been no change to scent since he first became aware of it, which meant either ignorance or a far deadlier opponent than he would have expected to be at the outer gate. It was youkai no neko, certainly, which meant either could be the case. However, that meant his next move would betray him, as even if his smell remained hidden, removing his sword from its sheath would certainly be heard.

Yurika saw him coil slightly, obviously preparing to strike. Then, he seemed to blur before her eyes. It took her a moment to realize he suddenly wasn't there, and a split second later she heard metal striking metal. She raced forward, stopping just short of the edge, and flung her head over. Below her, she saw Inuyasha clash swords again with a girl who looked to be several years younger than Ruri.

Inuyasha shoved his sword against his opponent's and leapt a few feet backwards to regroup. The youkai no neko appeared to be content to do the same. It was the latter who spoke first. "So, you're an heir of Inutaishou. Are you Sesshoumaru or Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha slowly circled, choosing his words carefully. "I am an heir, yes. I am Inutaishou Inuyasha, the second to bear this given name."

He watched as the countenance of his opponent fell slightly. "So you're not one of the two that my grandmother used to tell me stories about."

Inuyasha laughed aloud. "No, I assure you that you're the first youkai no neko I've fought. So, you decide you wanted revenge on my clan after all?"

"No, just taking advantage of the chance to be youkai for a while instead of pretending to be a petty mortal."

Inuyasha couldn't hold back his smirk. "There's nothing wrong with mortals, you know."

"You would be one to talk, wouldn't you?" The neko turned and looked up at Yurika. "You're here to rescue one human female, but you bring another with you. I suppose one human can't keep a youkai entertained so you had to acquire a second." The demon smiled evilly at Yurika's reddening and now bluing face.

Inuyasha felt his blood boil but shoved emotions away and exuded the coolness of his father. "I believe you have misread the relationships. Let's get this over with."

"Yes, let's," the cat demon echoed, and once again Yurika refused to believe what her eyes were telling her. The demon appeared to have cloned itself standing there. There were four demons surrounding him, now six, a dozen. Yurika quickly lost count as they all began spinning in a circle around Inuyasha. The opponent's laughter echoed off of the stone walls and a thick smell like cheap fake flowers clung to Yurika's nose. Yurika could only guess that it was designed to overwhelm the sensitive senses of Ruri's youkai. She watched as Inuyasha simply stood in the center of what she guessed to be an illusion, poised to strike but making no move. She watched as he slowly moved his left hand up to his helm and slid a visor down over his eyes.

The youkai no neko's laughter redoubled. "How is that supposed to help if you can't locate me by sound or smell either?"

Yurika found herself wondering the same thing when suddenly Inuyasha sprang at one of the copies, impaling it in the shoulder with his blade. Yurika's ears recoiled at the sound of the scream which suddenly filled the area and watched in shock as the copy youkai disappeared suddenly, leaving only the original kneeling on the ground and staring at the sword in her shoulder with a similar look of shock on her face. "How... did... you..."

Inuyasha quickly pulled his blade from the wound. "Simple. Your copies don't give off heat. IR cameras in the helm, feeding into the visor."

"I guess... technology... isn't cheating... or is it..." the demon said before passing out and slumping forward onto the grass. Yurika watched transfixed as Inuyasha gently laid the inert form out and then deftly withdrew the Tenseiga from his side to plunge it into the wound. She continued to stare as light surged around the fallen youkai the Inuyasha's blade, then dissipated. Inuyasha replaced the sword to his side and then turned to look up at Yurika.

"You going to stay up there all day or are we going to go get Ruri?"

"H...hai," Yurika said nervously. "What about..." she let her voice trail off as she looked at the inert form on the ground.

Inuyahsa followed her gaze. "She'll be fine. Tenseiga has healed her wound, though she has lost some blood."

Yurika slowly climbed down as Inuyasha examined the locking mechanism on the door to the underground portion of the ruins. "How do we unlock it?" she asked as she stepped up beside him. "We don't have a key to it."

"Sure we do," the demon retorted, drawing his gun and firing three rounds into the lock. He paused to replace the spent cartridges then gave the door a swift kick, wresting the remnant of the lock out of the wall with the door as it swung open. "See? It just needed some persuasion.

"Remind me not to debate you," Yurika murmured.

// \\

Some weeks from the present, Sesshoumaru and his son might debate which road was in worse repair. As it was, Sesshoumaru merely assumed that his car was having a worse time than his son's. Unlike his son, he had no intention of slipping quietly anywhere. Greg and Dean were well aware of this fact and were as grateful for the five-point harnesses installed in the vehicle as they were aware of said fact.

Sesshoumaru parked his car just far enough away from the temple Naraku had claimed as to avoid it being caught up in any rather nasty explosions that might occur. The three moved quickly from the vehicle and underneath the arches leading to the temple, and soon stood before the gates of the temple itself. The Lackeys checked their weapons and took up positions on either side of the gate. Sesshoumaru opted to wait no longer and simply sliced through the gates with Toukijin.

Dean and Greg followed Sesshoumaru into the courtyard only to find it empty except for a lone figure seated comfortably on a rock in the center of the area. "Where is Naraku?" Dean demanded, leveling his weapon at their apparent host.

The man stood to face them. Though not nearly as foreboding as Inuyasha currently appeared, he still bore a dark aura around himself. Sesshoumaru could tell easily enough that the man was fully human, yet even then detected demonic sorcery coming form him. He wore no armour, simply a grey shirt and darker grey pants, over which he wore a black coat which reached nearly to his ankles and black boots which stretched nearly to his knees. A stiff wind arose, blowing the man's dark hair away from his face and flipping his coat to reveal the broadsword at his side. "Naraku has asked me to keep you entertained until he arrives," the man said gaily.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed and his voice did not share the man's mirth, as he realized it was his opponent's sword that was the origin of the sorcery around the human. "There is no time for games. I will fight you if I must, but my business is solely with Naraku."

"Then consider me an authorized representative until he arrives, if that pleases you. I am Clayton MacLeod, and though I'm no immortal, I do enjoy a good swordfight," the man responded griping the hilt of his blade.

"Very well," Sesshoumaru said, trademark coolness oozing from his voice. "Let's begin."

// \\

Inuyasha and Yurika wandered through the twisting corridors of the ruins. The youkai knew he was close to Ruri, but neither could sense the strength of their link enough to guide the rescue party. Inuyasha had never been this far into the ruins, Saburouta and Ruri were unconscious when brought through in, and Yurika was just following her future son-in-law around. In short, everyone was just about hopelessly lost.

The pair continued to wander in the near-darkness, which was illuminated only by the light from the unsheathed Tenseiga the youkai carried. After what seemed like ages of wandering they found themselves staring into a large chamber illuminated by torchlight. Inuyasha sheathed the blade and stepped into the room. He took in as much as he could through his peripheral vision, but he left his focus at the far end of the room. Yurika trailed slightly behind, not needing the connection Ruri had to know that a fight was probably imminent.

"You mask your presence well, youkai no mizu," Inuyasha said flatly to the man at the far end of the room.

"And you do not," the other returned. Yurika moved so that she had a clear view around Inuyasha. She had expected to see someone looking somewhat like either of the youkai she knew, but saw something quite different."

"_He's_ youkai no mizu as well?" she said in shocked disbelief. The being before them bore high, aquiline features and skin which was bluer than her hair. It was a four-armed beast, the two on its left grasping a trident which appeared to have come from someplace other than Japan. Flowing robes hid its true shape, for which Yurika found herself grateful.

"Hai," the more familiar of the youkai present replied. He broke his gaze with his opponent to better take in the room. "I had thought youkai no mizu held a natural sense of grace and poise like my mother did which also made them decent interior decorators. I see I was wrong on both counts."

Yurika looked at the floor and for the first time since they became aware of the light ahead of them actually took in what was there. As the floor tapered down from where she stood, it was covered in what became three or four inches of water and was scattered with corpses. She gasped and jumped closer to Inuyasha. For his part, Inuyasha withheld his reaction and returned his gaze back to his opponent.

The youkai no mizu hugged his trident with two of his arms and leaned against it. "Well, I see you managed to kill the first of the three little challenges Naraku-sama set up for you. Not surprising, really. She was only hoping for a good fight and had nothing personal at stake. She lacked the passion necessary to take a head like yours and carry it back to her clan."

Inuyasha stepped forward a few paces, just enough down the slope into the room that he connected with the water there. "I'd rather not stand around and talk if you don't mind. Like you I have a personal interest at stake here, even if it's far different from your reason for fighting."

"Ah, yes, your little woman. Hmm. I don't think that reason compares to seeking revenge upon you for killing your own, revered mother. But, perhaps I should find out what she tastes like after I kill you."

Inyasha's eyes narrowed and began to glow subtly. "I suppose saying 'over my dead body' would be moot, wouldn't it?"

Baka' sounded in his head, which he echoed with 'Hai.'

Yurika was once again made aware of the frightening speed that youkai possessed. She watched silently as Inuyasha charged his opponent, drawing his blade at the last possible moment and striking. Part of her mind argued that he was moving slower than she had seen him move earlier, but the rest of her mind had trouble believing it.

It was with equal shock that she watched the opponent deftly deflect the blow with his trident. It didn't appear to affect the dark-armoured youkai, who simply pressed on with his attacks. The two broke their attacks off momentarily to regroup.

"You know," the full mizu youkai began, "we never did introduce ourseves. I am Tsumetaimizu. It was quite rude of you to simply attack me. You must have learned such behavior from your father or that ignorant uncle of yours. It certainly was not from the half which clans you with me."

Inuyasha sheathed his blade and placed his hands behind his back. "There is nothing which clans me to you. Those that at one time linked me to your clan forced me to kill them in order to defend those whom I have sworn to protect."

"Legend has it that a member of house of Inutaishou killed two of the greatest of all youkai no mizu. The legend goes on to say that one of them was killed by the greatest and most ancient of our sorcery, Mizu no Shi. How you were there, I don't know and don't care. But how about this, then, as a means for my revenge?" Tsumetaimizu slammed the end of his trident into the stones paving the floor before him and grasping it with all four hands. "The Mizu no Shi you cast was powerful, but it cannot compare to one which is powered by the Trident of Amakoi!"

Inuyasha smirked but made no move. "So, you gonna get that remark trademarked?"

The demon made no reply but began the incantation. _"By the powers of darkness,"_

Yurika backed slowly and fearfully into the dark hallway they had come from. She recognized the name of the spell that Ruri's love used to kill, no, destroy his grandmother.

_"By the waters of life from time's beginning,"_

Ruri sat in the room serving as her cell, eyes tightly closed and oblivious to Saburouta's questions about her welfare. Her mind and entire being screamed out to Inuyasha to do something to defend himself.

_"Let me walk the path of darkness,"_

'There is no defending against mizu no shi, Ruri.'

'So you're just going to stand there and die?!'

'Nope.'

_"And destroy... that... that which..."_

Yurika stared transfixed. Inu had described the spell as having a deadly grace about it, but she couldn't see it. All she could see was a torrent of dark energy and water swirling around the caster. Suddenly, she saw Inu blur as she had seen him do outside of the ruins.

Inuyasha moved forward with speed he hadn't used in years, if ever, which far surpassed the speed he had used outside. He grasped the kodachi at his back as he flowed forward. The fool was losing what little control he had over the spell and now was the time to strike. The smaller blades leapt from their home and dove at their targets. The youkai no mizu couldn't have blocked the attacks even if he had been paying attention. As it was, he stared dumbfoundedly as the trident was thrown from his hands. Reality did not come to him until he saw Inuyasha's second kodachi pierce through the torrent around him to bury itself in his side.

The torrent suddenly found the forces binding it broken and desperately searched for a home or target. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed coldly as he released the blade and stepped back from Tsumetaimizu. He spread his arms wide and let the torrent embrace him as he absorbed it into him. The mizu no youkai's eyes opened in terror and he looked down, unable to meet the frozen gaze of his adversary. He fixated upon the blade still in his side. Inuyasha stepped forward and pulled the weapon quickly from the wounded enemy and replaced both blades in their sheaths.

"How did you.." the youkai gasped out.

"If I had tried to attack you at any other point than when I did, I would have simply bounced off of the torrent. If I attack in the moment between when mizu no shi protects you and when it attacks me, I'm safe and you're the one who is vulnerable."

"So that's... how you did it..."

"No, it's not actually," Inuyasha responded coolly. The sheathed Tenseiga at his side helped him sense the minions of the underworld gathering before him and preparing to pounce upon the dying youkai. "You see, you didn't cast mizu no shi."

Inuyasha sloshed quickly a few paces away to collect the fallen Trident of Amakoi. "Mizu no shi is one of the few spells inherent to our kind which maintains a balance to the natural order of things and does not simply rely on black magicks. You violated that order twice. First, when you cast your spell you chose to only call upon the darkness to aide you and never the light. Second, this." Inuyasha held up the halberd. "You can never use holy relics in casting. The gods do not smile on our using their weapons as simple wands."

The youkai no mizu began to cast a healing spell on himself, which Inuyasha didn't bother to try to stop. "Well, allow me to correct... my mistakes and try again," the youkai said, staggering to his feet. He wasn't completely healed, but healed enough to be dangerous. "You should have killed me when you had the chance."

Inuyasha spun the halberd above his head, stopping it and himself in a throwing position. "Yeah, my family gets that a lot." With that, he spun and hurled the spear into the wall near the doorway Yurika was standing in and embedding the weapon into a seal placed there.

Yurika leaned into the room, careful to avoid the murky waters, in time to see the seal that the youkai no mizu had placed on the wall explode. She heard Tsumetaimizu gasp and turned to see stark fear on his face. She then looked to Inuyasha, who simply stood there, standing at a point where he could see the seal and still watch his wounded opponent out of the corner of his eye.

Ruri could see through Inuyasha's eyes that he had guessed the situation correctly based on the stark terror emanating from that corner of the roomcontaining Tsumetaimizu. Near the erupting seal Inuyasha saw Yurika and turned to face her and the seal. There was still a possibility he was wrong, even if it was a small possibility, but if he was wrong he would need to act quickly. He sloshed towards the wall and the trident protruding from it. Grasping the weapon, he gave it a firm pull, dislodging it from the wall.

'You realize that if you don't let her come over there she's going to die of curiosity.'

'Curiosity might also kill her if I'm wrong.'

'You're right and we both know it.'

Inuyasha smiled in defeat and rapped the butt of the weapon against the water at his feet. It followed his command and receded, leaving a dry path along the wall's edge for Yurika to follow, who quickly jointed the youkai.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Yurika asked, peering over his shoulder. It looked as if there was a cavity of sorts behind where the seal had been placed. The youkai reached forward but was quickly and violently repelled by the remnant of the seal. Cursing under his breath, he produced a small tanto and sliced away the last pieces and fully exposing the tiny cavity.

Yurika bent and peered into the opening. "What's in there?"

"The true owner of the Trident of Amakoi, who else would that bastard seal up in here?" Yurika blinked, unsure of the owner of the voice. Inuyasha removed his helm and bent next to her, placing his head near hers.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I was right, eh, Mizu Megami-sama?" Inuyasha said, the humor returning to his voice. Yurika gasped slightly as the cavity's occupant stepped to the edge of the opening. 

"An itty bitty water goddess?" Yurika said, the curiosity in her voice climbing.

The woman stared at the faces before her when she suddenly locked onto the features of the demon. "You again?"

It was Inuyasha's turn to have confusion cross his face. "Me... again? Waitaminute..." Inuyasha's shoulders heaved a few times before the laughter worked its way out of his mouth. A few minutes later he regained control of his respiratory system and prepared to answer the questioning looks from the two women before him and to the one in his head.

Gomen nasai, minna-san. I was aware that the true owner of the Trident of Amakoi would be a water goddess, I just didn't expect _this_ one."

"This one?" Yurika echoed, looking at the woman again.

"Why would there be another one?" the deity retorted, then lowered her head. "In Sengoku Jidai, my trident was stolen once before, by a water imp at that time, and this hanyou and his human companions aided me in recovering it."

"Hanyou?" Yurika parroted. "But, he's all demon, not half, and besides," she continued, whirling to face Inuyasha, "you said you had told me everything you two did in the warring states era."

Inuyasha placed a hand on her shoulder, attempting to allay her anger. "I did. It is another who is incorrect here, and has mistaken me for someone else, though it is easily forgiven." He stepped forward and placed a hand next to the opening, allowing the small figure to exit its prison. He placed her gently on the floor and held the trident where she could grasp it. Yurika's eyes widened as the small figure quickly grew to the stature of a normal-sized human. "Mizu Megami-sama, I presume."

The water goddess ran her hands over the staff of her weapon, growing reaccustomed to its feel. "Yet you, I take it, are not Inuyasha."

"No, I am the son of his half-brother Sesshoumaru-sama, Lord of the Western Lands," he shrugged before continuing. "I share the name though. Let's go, Yurika-san." He turned and headed for the door near the temporarily forgotten youkai no mizu.

"Demo..." Yurika started, then hurried to keep up with him, as he was commanding the waters enough to be walking on dry ground.

"Wait," the goddess commanded, causing the youkai only to stop and look back over his shoulder.

"I have no time to waste on further pleasantries. You are not the only one who has been held against her will in these ruins, and, frankly, I care a hell of a lot more about the other captive. I'm demon, not deity, after all. Freeing you en route to freeing her is simply luck on your part."

Mizu megami-sama arched an eyebrow but made no direct reply. "At least you left the punishment of the garbage for me to enjoy." She glided over to one of the corpses and pulled a sheathed weapon from it. She threw the weapon to Inuyasha, who caught it with his off hand.

"A parting gift?" he said flatly.

"You may find it useful. They call it the Sword of Straasha, though whether or not he ever touched it is unknown to me. However, had that fool used it instead of my trident you most likely would not be speaking with me now."

Inuyasha looked to the youkai on the floor whose fear appeared to have been growing steadily throughout their conversation. "Baka ba'ka," he mused. He turned and began to lead Yurika from the room. "However, Arigato, Mizu-megami."

'What is it, hime-chan?' Inuyasha asked, sensing perplexion from her.

'I don't know. It's just that the name of that weapon is somehow familiar.'

The youkai considered her words for a moment as he ran with Yurika through the final corridors. 'Either way, I have no intention of using an untested sword right now.'

Ruri couldn't hide the amusement she felt. 'Perhaps you're not as stupid as you look,' she teased.

'Baka.'

'Perhaps.'

// \\

_Next up, Sesshoumaru finishes his fight and Ruri's escape effected..._


	10. A Rescue Effected

Sesshoumaru and MacLeod held their weapons and each considered his opponent. The conviction of the former that the broadsword was the source of sorcery in the latter grew upon seeing the blade before him unsheathed. Every time he drew his own weapon, he could tell that Toukijin thirsted for blood. However, only the one holding Toukijin was aware of that desire. When his son held the blade, he could not feel the blade's intent.

The blade opposing him, however, was different. Even though they were separated by several meters, he could hear the opposing blade as clearly as he heard his own, and perhaps even more strongly. The black blade emanated a light as black as it was and as strong as either of the heirloom swords his father had left.

Since both opponents appeared to be content studying the other for the time being, Sesshoumaru entertained one further notion. He had phrased it as "the blade opposing him." Though the wielder did not bear the wild-eyed look of a human who had dared grasp the Toukijin, it was quite clear who was the master in the pair that stood before him.

"Stand down," Sesshoumaru ordered the Lackeys, realizing that they were both taking careful aim. "The one who will defeat this mortal... is this Sesshoumaru."

that, he leapt forward and attacked. Dean and Greg were amazed to see blow after blow parried by the Scotsman. Dean regarded the two even more carefully than Greg did, as if he were studying the scene for research. "This is crazy," he muttered.

"Eh?" Greg replied.

"Have you seen that guy strike or counter once?"

"Huh? Well, no, I guess not," Greg said, scratching his head. He gestured with the gun in his hands. "These things are more my style."

Take my word for it then," Dean said, returning his gaze to the combatants before him. "That MacLeod guy isn't attacking at all, even if he's able to block every blow Sesshoumaru-sama is making."

Sesshoumaru heard what the Lackeys were saying but didn't really pay attention as he had realized the same thing a while back. When his first strike had been easily parried, he had begun to hold himself back, unsure if he had underestimated his opponent. It was clear, however, that he had not, as evidenced by the lack of any retaliation against him.

It was also evident that the mortal was far less experienced with a sword than he let on to be. Perhaps he was a good swordsman by modern standards, standards which no lives depended on. However, Sesshoumaru was quite clearly in control of the fight, even if he had yet to draw blood. As such, he was slowly increasing the pace of the duel. Each of his attacks moved slightly quicker than the last. He was not unrewarded in his efforts. As the fight dragged on he heard the opposing blade howl ever increasingly for his blood, and with each increment of speed saw fear increment equally in his opponent's face.

was under no pretense that the target of the mortal's fear was himself. It was clear to him that the man feared losing control to the black blade in his hands far more than he feared death at the demon's hands. There was a point that would soon be reached where Sesshoumaru wasn't fighting a mortal wielding a sorcerous blade but a sorcerous blade given hands by a mortal. It was that moment Sesshoumaru was patiently waiting for.

// \\

Youkai elsewhere were not necessarily as patient as the Lord of the Western Lands. Kagura paced restlessly back and forth as if she were the one being guarded instead of the Saburouta and Hoshino.

Ruri, for her part, sat patiently with her hands in her lap, fully aware of what Inuyasha and Yurika were doing at the moment (which was quarrelling at a "Y" in the passageways). She watched Kagura as the youkai would occasionally stop for a few moments, flick her fan open and shut a few times, then resume pacing.

Saburouta had given up trying to make conversation and was simply laying on the floor with his hands behind his head and his feet propped up on the wall. Until a short while ago he had been whistling a random tune despite his charge's declaring it awful. He had decided to stop after Kagura had seconded the Kanchou's opinion but with some added force behind the request.

"It's too bad that brat Kohaku was human and died centuries ago. He was far better suited to this kind of duty than I."

"It will be over soon," Ruri said, causing Kagura to raise an eyebrow.

"You really think he'll defeat Naraku so quickly that Naraku will be unable to order me to kill you?"

"Oi, who said he was going to fight Naraku first?" the Jovian mused aloud, not taking his eyes from the ceiling.

"Kagura-san," Hoshino started, determined to change the conversation to keep herself from revealing just how right her bodyguard was, "I saw Akatsuki-san in the car with us before you drugged me."

"The long-haired fellow?" Kagura clarified, "What of him?"

"That is my question," Ruri continued. "What connection does he have to Naraku?"

Kagura paused in her pacing and considered the younger woman. "An answer for an answer. Why you two? I know what I saw in him, but I cannot understand why you desire him. He does not seem your type."

Ruri paused, preferring to not discuss her feelings with the woman before her but knowing that she needed her question answered more. 'Oh well, it's your turn to be embarrassed, Inu-kun.'

'So be it, Ruri.'

"I suppose somehow we understand each other, at a level I have never been able to share with anyone else."

'Evasive and yet completely true. Otou-san must be rubbing off on you.'

'Baka.'

'Damn straight.'

"A different response than I would have expected, but I suppose it will have to do. I suppose my answer will be equally aggravating. I asked him a similar question, and his response was that he shared some points of view with the man who helped Naraku, and had agreed to help Naraku in his associate's goals if said business associate would aid him in his."

Saburouta thumped a boot against the wall. "I think your answer was more aggravating, not equally."

// \\

The human was at his breaking point. Sesshoumaru could tell it was his last, best effort before giving in to his sword. For his part Sesshoumaru was increasing his caution as he increased his speed. His half-brother had proven to him many years ago the potentially fatal consequences of acting otherwise. His missing left arm was a constant reminder of that fact.

Finally, it happened. Sesshoumaru wasn't entirely sure himself how he knew that the man had broken to the will of the black blade he carried. Perhaps it was something in the mortal's eyes or a subtle change in expression. It was moot as the evidence came when the man didn't wait for Sesshoumaru's next strike to come, choosing instead to swing at the youkai's head with all of his strength.

Sesshoumaru ducked easily enough under the swing, letting the blade slice nothing more than air. The man struck at Sesshoumaru again, who brought his sword up and caught the attacking blade against it. He then leaped into the air and twisted himself to allow his sword to catch the other blade in its pommel. In his shock the human loosened his grip on his blade and the youkai took full advantage of it. With a practiced flick Sesshoumaru threw the weapon from his opponent's hands.

Dean and Greg tightened their grip on their own weapons, unsure of what would happen next as they watched the black blade spiral end over end away from its former master. Their concern was soon merited, though their faces were registering more shock than concern. The black blade stopped itself in midair and levitated of its own accord a few feet above the ground, it's hilt aimed towards the heavens.

Sesshoumaru landed and crouched, prepared for any attack against him the weapon might launch of its own accord. The sword rotated itself slowly in the air, leveling itself parallel to the ground, and after a moment's pause rocketed forward. It was the one attack even the fearsome Lord of the Western Lands could not prepare for. The sword had turned against the one whom moments before had considered himself the master it. It dove into the Scotsman's chest with a force that caused the man to stumble several feet backwards.

Unsure as to why he did so, Sesshoumaru replaced Toukijin to its home at his side and leaped towards his former opponent. He grasped the hilt of the sword to pull it out and found himself forced to his knees but unable to release the blade. The Scotsman coughed, a thin line of blood running from the corner of his mouth. "It would seem... that... it has a new master." He smiled slightly. "Blood and souls..." he began but his life was ended before he could finish.

Sesshoumaru felt control of his arm return a few moments later and wrenched the blade free of its former ally. He straightened and studied the broadsword in his hand. Though it was larger and heavier than the Toukijin, the power it was infused with, and was infusing him with, made it feel lighter. Dean stepped cautiously forward. "Sesshoumaru-sama..."

"Naraku does not intend to appear."

"S.. sir?"

The youkai reached down and slid the black blade into the scabbard on the corpse. "I do not think he intends to absorb myself or my son. Had this man held the control he claimed of this blade, he could have easily defeated me. Naraku over-estimated his strength." He disconnected the scabbard from its belt and then placed it in his own. "Let us go. Inuyasha may require assistance."

// \\

As of that moment, Inuyasha and Yurika did not require assistance, as shortly after arguing about which turn to take, he had caught the mixed scent of Kagura and Naraku in the air.

He had wanted Yurika to stay where she was but didn't even ask, guessing that she wanted Ruri back almost as much as he did. He knew from Ruri that in some ways Yurika felt more deeply for Ruri than even he did, just as in some ways Ruri felt more deeply for Akito than him.

'Baka.'

' 'You say that word a lot. I do not think it means what you think it means,' ' the youkai teased.

'And again I say 'baka.' Yes, I do care for them both, especially Akito-san, but that can't be as strong as this bond.'

The youkai slowed his pace through the corridors, to Yurika's relief. 'You would have no chance against me in a fight. Does that make you weak?'

'Of course not. Strength isn't just muscles, both of our lives have taught us that.'

'Ruri, the opposite is also true. Strength of a relationship doesn't come from just level of communication, no more than physical attraction does. If it was a choice between standing by Akito-san and standing by me, we both know that the decision would be simple. Akito.'

Ruri sat silently, ignoring a curious look from Saburouta. 

'There's nothing wrong with it, either. If things had happened differently in Sengoku Jidai, yes, I probably still would have proposed-'

'-But I may not have said yes,' Ruri finished, staring at her hands. She thought for a moment before continuing. 'While that may be true, I do not regret my decision, nor do I doubt it.'

Yurika was looking at the cavern walls and missed the slight smile as it flashed across the youkai's face. 'I know, hime-chan. But you didn't.'

Ruri returned the smile she felt cross his lips. 'Baka ba'ka, baka-sempai.'

He thumbed loose the Tenseiga and stopped before a door terminating the corridor. 'That I am. "We're here."'

Kagura head jerked towards the entrance to what was serving as Ruri and Saburouta's cell as she heard the ancient wood shattering behind her. A cold, evil smile crossed her face. "Well, 'Inu-chan', has the puppy come to play?"

His left hand casually resting on the Tenseiga, he cracked the knuckles of his right before laying it on the weapons' hilt. "Hardly. I have come for Hoshino-san. Release her."

Kagura flicked her fan open across her face, leaving only her gleaming red eyes visible to her former lover. "What? No 'or I shall kill you', 'or I shall tear you limb from limb', or any other euphemism your dear departed uncle might have used?"

"Nope," Inuyasha returned as Ruri and Saburouta stood, unsure of what was going to happen next. The wait wasn't long, as Kagura hurled her Fuujin no Mai against the ceiling seconds later. She grabbed Ruri by the arm and leaped as the ceiling began collapsing, dragging the lighter woman with her.

Inuyasha cursed and grabbed Yurika as he dodged pieces of ceiling as it began to crash down around them. Grasping Saburouta by the collar with his free hand he leaped up, following Kagura and shielding the humans from debris as best he could.

Ruri looked down, trying to see what was happening below her as she was hauled to the surface. It was only a matter of seconds before she found herself underneath the sun once more. After landing, Kagura released the death grip on the kanchou's arm and shoved Ruri slightly but forcibly away.

"You don't have to fight him," Ruri objected.

"You're a good little soldier. You know that orders are orders," Kagura resonded, casting a sidelong glance at the younger.

"This is neither the UEF nor the Confederation," Ruri pointed out.

"No, it's not. It is a matter between youkai that humans should not interfere with."

Ruri's eyes formed into a glare as she saw the trio emerge unscathed from the newly formed pit on the other side of Kagura. "If it is a matter for youkai, why are you serving a hanyou?"

Kagura returned the glare before turning to face the slightly dusty trio.

Inuyasha released his grip on his passengers and stepped away from them. "Call Akito-san. I want to get out of here quickly."

Yurika nodded as the youkai turned to focus on his opponent. Ruri felt his mind open itself to her. Since the capture he had never purposefully closed his mind to her, but in all of his previous fights today she had felt his mind shut itself from her even though he did not realize it at the time. His mind and body this time were forcing themselves into a relaxed state in the same way they had when Kagura had been reclaimed by Naraku.

'Fluid,' Ruri thought to herself.

'Nan da?'

'Nothing, you have Kagura to worry about.'

'You're right, you now. It amounts to whether I let the youkai no inu tap the youkai no mizu or vice versa.'

'And the youkai no inu is more dominant?' Ruri questioned.

'Hai. This way is much more difficult, but more powerful for me.'

Kagura flicked her fan impatiently, creating small eddies around herself. "Oi, Inuyasha, are you thinking about your honeymoon already?" With that, she swept her arm and threw the eddies at him converting them into her razor sharp projectiles.

Inuyasha drew the Tenseiga as Fuujin no Mai howled towards him and dove straight into the onslaught. "What good is controlling the wind," he smirked, "if you don't move the wind faster than you opponent can move?" To prove his point, he drove the blade into the fury, nullifying her attack.

Kagura blinked. Not even the previous Inuyasha had been able to actually stop one of her attacks; he had only been able to block them. The only other person who had ever done what her ex had just done was Kagome's purifying arrow. Everyone else had either dodged or died. Kagura, however, dismissed the parry as dumb luck and that it had been a while since she had actually fought anyone.

The previous time that fate had brought them together, she had watched him train a few times. Every time she had watched him, the back of her mind was assured that if she ever had to fight him, she would defeat him. When they had fought side by side on his little fiancee's ship, she had assumed that his having somehow acquired low-gravity experience was the only thing that gave him a slight advantage over her. However, she had misjudged the abilities of both sons of Inutaishou when she had faced them in Sengoku Jidai. She silently cursed herself for forgetting Sesshoumaru's face when fate had brought herself and his son together as she released volley after volley of Fuujin no Mai at her former lover.

The current and former Nadesico crewmembers watched for the most part with mouths agape. Ruri's face bore no emotion as she watched the two youkai fight, only a casual interest in what happened despite what was going through her mind. She was, of course, concerned for the welfare of her love. However, despite her lack of martial knowledge, she had no doubts as to who would be the victor. She and Inuyasha both knew that Kagura was emotionally vesting herself in the fight, still bearing anger over their separation over a century before. Her opponent was removing all of his emotions from the fight.

Ruri was familiar enough with "ki" or the "swordsman's spirit," and in fact on occasion had gotten bored with Inuyasha's rambling on the subject. However, she had paid attention to enough of it to know that while one who possessed a strong ki could triumph over one who did not, one who could possess a strong ki yet elevate above it and cloak it was truly fearsome. With her fiance this ability was almost inherent when he focused himself in this way. A combination of his mother's blood, his father's training and mastery of battou-jutsu and Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu was certainly fearsome, but what caused Ruri to repress a shudder at the moment was thinking about the mastery of ki that her future father-in-law must have. He was in control of his emotions even more than she was of hers, and thus he must surely have earned a name meaning "killing purity."

Ruri blinked and brought her mind back to the world before her, realizing that the end of the fight was at hand. She watched as Inuyasha leaped high above the last volley Kagura had unleashed at him. His opponent had momentarily lost track of him behind her blinding attack and was unaware he was descending from above. A muttered "baka" could be heard issuing from her lips as he betrayed his position with a cry of "Ryu Tsui Sen!"

Kagura looked up in time to see the black armour descending rapidly towards her, the Tenseiga coiled to strike above her opponent's head. She tried to dodge out of its path but was unsuccessful. She grimaced in pain as she felt the blade connect with her shoulder. Her entire right arm went numb as she felt the blade tear and repair flesh and bone alike. She buckled to her knees, dropping her fan as Inuyasha landed and sheathed his blade.

The fires of hell itself flashed in her already-red eyes but were offset by the softness in her opponent's. "Gomen nasai, Kagura-sama," the youkai said softly, kneeling before where she sat on the ground. His mask returned as the recognized the sound of his vehicle coming. He stood and began to walk away from her, towards Ruri. "You will be freed from Naraku. You have my word in this."

Kagura harumphed as she nursed her numb and currently useless arm. "I doubt that you will. You know that I am ordered to kill you," she said, mentally summoning the small horde of lesser youkai that Naraku had managed to piece together.

Inuyasha stopped and adopted the tone of his father, but deigned to turn back to face her. "In that, I am afraid you will fail." He moved quickly away to usher Yurika and Ruri to the vehicle while instructing Saburouta to take the wheel from Akito, who was more than happy to oblige.

Inuyasha wasn't entirely sure how he knew what was coming. It wasn't anything that he could attribute to a sense, so perhaps it was just a hunch based on stories told to him as a child and again after the brothers were reunited. Either way, he turned to see the glowing mass that was one of Naraku's hordes. He closed the door behind Ruri and leaped on top of the vehicle, leaning his head into the still-open sunroof. "Saburouta, go!"

With the jerk inherent to a driver unaccustomed to the horsepower of the demon's machine, Saburouta rocketed the car forward and onto the road leading from the ruins. Inuyasha's eyes never strayed from the snarled mass of baser youkai following them, the silver revolver in his hand occasionally firing a round upon a youkai that managed to stray too close to the car. While he wouldn't' call the emotions he felt in the car below him fear per se, there was certainly some anxiety coming from the opening below him. As they neared the highway, he heard a familiar sound approaching and smiled as he recognized his father's M3. He watched as the car sided up beside his and his father's serene face emerged from the smaller vehicle's sunroof.

"A fine mess you've gotten yourself into this time," Sesshoumaru chided.

The younger smiled, moving from a crouching to sitting position as the vehicles accelerated upon reaching the highway. "Well, what can I say?" he asked casually. "It's normally messy when your ex shows up after you get engaged."

The elder youkai smiled faintly then looked up at their pursuers. He pulled Toukijin from his sash and threw it to his son, who caught it easily but plastered his face with a dumbfounded expression. Sesshoumaru shrugged and regarded the horde again. He drew his newly-claimed sword from its scabbard. "I believe it is time for you to formally inherit the Toukijin, as this rune-covered blade has claimed me as its master."

Inuyasha thought his father had said something else but his focus had shifted to his love, whose mind now was tinged with fear and who was clambering to join him in the sunroof. "'What is it, Ruri?'"

Ignoring her betrothed for the moment, she looked at the other vehicle and, more specifically, at the sword in Sesshoumaru's hand. "It can't be..." she breathed, inaudible to all but Inuyasha.

Impatient to wait for fullness, Inuyasha searched his love's mind. 'What's going on, Ruri-chan?'

'It was a book I read when I was first learning to read. I saw it in the Institute's library and picked it up because the man on the cover had eyes and hair like mine.'

The youkai's head jerked as if he had been physically struck by Ruri's words. '_That's_ one of the Runeblades?' he stated, shock spreading into his features and leaving his mouth agape.

Ruri fought back a laugh at his expression and reached up to close his mouth for him. 'You read it too?'

'I was a lot older than you were but it was still a century ago. I'd forgotten reading of Elric of Melnibone, though I picked it up for the same reason you did.'

Ruri allowed a small smile to cross her face but returned herself to business with a cry of "Sesshoumaru-sama!" to the other vehicle. The cry was left unheard by its recipient as it coincided with the synchronized braking and sliding of Saburouta and Dean.

"What the Hell do you think you're-" the younger youkai started, wheeling around to see why they had stopped. "Oh. Crap."

Sesshoumaru turned as well and saw two Aestivalis standing in the middle of the otherwise empty road ahead of them. He leapt down from the roof of his vehicle to stand between the two BMW's, watching the unmoving pair. His son joined him, warily looking over the red mech and its grey cousin. The elder turned back to face the swarm which was now rapidly approaching and asked without taking his eyes off of them, "Are those friend or foe?"

"Beats me," Inuyasha shrugged, "Ruri, do you recognize their squadron?"

"It's..." Ruri started, then her eyes characteristically widened. "One is Ryoko-san's."

As if on cue, the mecha bearing red plating raised its rifle and fired several rounds into the swarm with minimal affect on them. The grey mecha beside it joined in firing but appeared to be creating a light show more than anything else. Though neither unit had an external speaker engaged, Ruri heard the curses of one of the pilots through her youkai's ears over the din of gunfire. "It's certainly Ryoko-san, de degozaimasu." 

Sesshoumaru stepped forward to join in the attack but found his son blocking his path. The younger embedded the Toukijin in the pavement before his father and took a few steps forward, drawing the Sword of Straasha.

'Be careful, Inuyasha,' Ruri said, her quiet request cutting through Inu's thoughts.

'I will. This blade may not be mentioned in those chronicles, but if its name is accurate I think I know how to use it. And to think, all this time even I thought it was just a fairy tale.'

'Still.'

'I know. I love you.' With that, he drew his sword and raised it to the heavens.

_"Straasha! Eternal King! Eternal Sea!_   
_Thine aid is sought by me!_   
_For enemies of thine and mine_   
_Seek to defeat our destiny,_   
_and drain away our sea!" _[1] 

Though he knew that he was standing on dry ground, Inuyasha suddenly felt the embrace of water around him. He lavished in it momentarily then brought his mind back into focus on the task at hand.

_"Greetings, my child. It has been long since one of my kind summoned me back to this plane. Though I do not recognize thee, I sense thy blood, as well as that thy need is urgent."_

The youkai nodded. "Straasha-sam... King Straasha, I beg thy aid, that you lend to me elementals to defeat the demons that threaten us."

The deep green eyes of the face that had formed before Inuyasha in the currents seemed to laugh slightly. _"That is all thee summoned me for? Thou art of me, thou hath this power within thineself."_

Inuyasha's puzzlement grew. "Of you? But..."

The face's mouth smiled. _"It has been indeed a long time, I suppose. Thee do not seem to have been taught all of the might thy blood contains. I shall grant thy request, but trouble me not again for something so trivial, something you yourself can do."_

Inuyasha made to thank him but found blackness encroaching his vision, and soon found himself unconscious.

// \\

Consciousness slowly returned to the youkai's mind. He felt fingers brush against his hair and Ruri's comforting mind inside of his. He was unsure as to what happened after he blacked out, but nothing but peace was coming from Ruri, leaving him feeling safe.

'Ruri, what happened?' he asked as his body began to catch up with his mind in returning to wakefulness. Ruri made no reply to his question but neither did any of the emotions he felt in her change. He felt softness against the back of his head and surmised that Ruri had laid his head in her lap. He hesitated in opening his eyes, enjoying the peace a while longer. He inhaled deeply reveling in Ruri's scent being near her once again. He paused and sorted through the smells and sounds around him. Yurika was quite close by, almost on top of him, so to speak, and Akito and his father were near as well. Saburouta was slightly farther away and there were two more humans he didn't recognize, though neither smelled or sounded hostile.

Resigning himself to returning to reality, he slowly opened his eyes. Looking down at him were two large, round green eyes. He blinked. Green. A blue lock of hair fell from behind the face as it smiled down at him. Crimson flooded into his face as he quickly sat upright. In the late afternoon sun he saw his mistake. Yurika had loaned him one knee and his still-sleeping fiancee the other.

Yurika smiled at the blushing youkai as he tried to shrug off his embarrassment. As the blood slowly returned from whence it came the young demon took in his surroundings. Were it not for the fact that he still wore his demon armour and the presence of two mecha nearby it would have appeared to be a normal, tranquil spring picnic. When his father had had time to prepare and pack what he saw on the ground before him was beyond his comprehension. He shook his head slightly at the tea Tenkawa proffered and began unlacing the gauntlets around his wrists.

Most of the assemblage was content for the moment to not ask what had happened. This suited the younger of the demons, seeing as how he didn't even get to see how Straasha had aided him. He was aware also of the dearth of conversation in the group, partly, of course, due to everyone wanting to allow Ruri to sleep. He was better aware than any just how little she had allowed herself to rest during her incarceration. However, beyond that he smelled the emotions of the humans around him. Yurika and Akito both smelled slightly nervous, probably unsure of what happened. One of the two newcomers he recognized as Tsukiomi Genichiro , whom he'd met a few times before through Nergal. Inuyasha smelled from him the same thing he smelled in Saburouta - disquiet and distrust, which didn't surprise him. Sesshoumaru-sama was Sesshoumaru-sama. The final member of the group was feeling quite different from the rest. Her, he had never met, but recognized from Ruri's memories as well has his beloved's descriptions of her fiery attitude. "Subaru Ryoko," he began calmly, "I sense great hostility from you."

"What was that you did? How did you kill those things? What were they?" Ryoko erupted, giving vent to her questions.

"I'll give you what answers I can if you'll answer this: Did we run into you or did you know we were out here?"

Ryoko "hmphed" and crossed her arms. "Hari-kun said Ruri-chan needed help. So I came. Same with Tsukiomi-san."

Inuyasha lowered his head to control the hellfire in his eyes before continuing. "I see. I suppose that satisfactorily answers my question." He shrugged and raised his head. "However, my answer will be a little more frustrating. I am a demon, after all," he finished with a smile that showed the briefest glimpse of his fangs.

Inuyasha ignored the confused looks from the Jovians and Ryoko as he continued. "Your questions are backward so I'll reverse their order for you. That swarm was baser youkai, simple-minded demons and little more than animals burning with the fires of Hell. For your middle question I have no answer. I was apparently unconscious during the fight itself."

"Perhaps I have an answer," Sesshoumaru interrupted. "It would appear that you summoned a group of youkai no mizu. However, from my understanding of Western lore, their name for them might be more accurate, 'water elementals.'"

Inuyasha shrugged, "That's possible, but like I said, I don't fully know what happened."

"But you summoned them!" Ryoko roared, ignoring a restraining hand on her shoulder from Genichiro .

The younger demon smiled and shook his head. "No, I did not summon _them_, I summoned _Straasha_." He launched into as brief an explanation as he could of the conversation between himself and the ancient being.

"So, would he count as a god or a demon?" Saburouta asked when he had finished.

"Neither, frankly. Straasha is Straasha, just as Sesshoumaru-sama is Sesshoumaru-sama and I am me." Confusion grew on everyone's faces so he continued. "Ruri's worldview is absolute... things are good or they're bad," he smiled down at her still-sleeping form. "However, there are many beings which belong neither in heaven nor in hell. It's not that we're necessarily banned from either... Perhaps you could say we exist under slightly different laws of nature."

"Is that how youkai can move so fast, Inuyasha?" Yurika guessed.

The youkai laughed aloud. "The laws of phsyics are the laws of physics, kaa-san. But while they can't be broken, they can certainly be bent."

Yurika shook her head. "I don't get it."

"Alright. Look at it this way. When you accelerate closer to the speed of light, what happens?"

Genichiro shrugged and answered for the group. "Time slows down. So?"

"So," the demon responded, "what if instead of speeding up, you just slow time down a little?"

Ryoko decided it was her turn to laugh. "That's impossible."

The pilot continued smirking as the youkai raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked plainly.

She raised her tea towards her mouth. "Yes," she said forcefully, never taking her eyes off of him. She saw him blur slightly and then suddenly felt her cup ripped from her hand. "N.. nani?"

Inuyasha sat where he had been before, only now holding Ryoko's tea. "No wonder great religious leaders resort to parlor tricks." He handed the cup to Akito before standing to remove the final pieces of armor.

"Where are you going?" Ryoko challenged, not content to let the tea lie.

The youkai collected Straasha's sword and swung it across his shoulders like a yoke. "For a walk."

// \\

Inuyasha sat near the edge of the precipice, the blade in the grass beside him forgotten in meditation as he stared out at the sea. He had actually forgotten just where on the coast their course had taken them. He had once practiced his kata on this cliff.

He felt Ruri's presence nearing him and turned to welcome her. She smiled as she seated herself beside him and leaned on his shoulder. He inhaled deeply, breathing in her smell once again, and let it out in a slow sigh. "Why now, Ruri? I can't even describe how bizarre it felt to watch an Aestivalis firing upon youkai."

"Well, you're not the one raised among computers and starships who one day found herself on the back of a youkai flying around his house."

"Touche. Still."

"Still, paradoxes do exist."

"Paradoxes just mean we don't understand it properly."

"So I suppose that means I'm still right."

Inuyasha smiled, "I suppose." He let the smile fade and sat silently beside her for sometime.

'You shouldn't worry so much.'

'You were in very real danger, and I let it happen.'

'Baka,' Ruri countered, her thoughts tinged with anger and frustration. 'You didn't let anything happen. What happened was above our control. We did what we had to do and could not have foreseen the consequences. Do you think I was any less concerned when you were fighting?'

Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her. "Gomen. You're right." He held her to him a moment more, then stood, placing his sword in his sash. "Let's go," he said, taking her hand. "They'll be waiting for us, and we both probably would like to return to Otou-san's."

Ruri stood but didn't move as he started walking, just slightly smiling after him. He turned to face her, "What is it, Ruri?"

She kept the smile and shook her head slightly. "It's nothing. You just didn't call it 'home.'"

He felt her smile infecting him. "Well, we do have to find our own place, you know."

// \\

_Next up, everything starts heading south..._

// \\

[1]To avoid any plagarism, this really is a direct rip from Elric. It's found in the Elric Saga, Part I, Book 2, Chapter 1: The Caverns of the Sea King. In the edition I have, It's page 46. This is the final stanza of the incantation Elric's mind spoke to summon Straasha as he was drowning.

  



	11. Pickin' on the Rich Guy

The drive back to the Inutaishou's estate was uncomplicated enough. Yurika attempted to lighten the mood in the vehicle with further wedding discussions, but Ruri was returning to her quiet normalcy and her youkai was feeling contemplative. He had opted to allow Saburouta to remain at the car's helm and opted to sit in between the two women in the back, giving Ruri a little solitude. Thus Akito was given the "pleasure" of leading the Jovian back to the estate, as any mortal driver would have had problems pacing Sesshoumaru. Actually, the youkai's son even had problems pacing his driving at times.

As Saburouta turned the vehicle into Sesshoumaru's driveway, the group saw the elder youkai simply standing beside his vehicle and staring out into the yard. Parking behind the elder's vehicle they saw the object of his astonishment. The two Aestivalis had landed in the yard, which was in and of itself logical, as the younger had given the pilots the GPS coordinates of the estate. Of the two machines, only one was the source of what had apparently moved from astonishment to a festering in the demon. It was not the red unit of Ryoko, which was parked on tennis courts unused since the lands were held by a previous owner. It was the silver one which was the problem. Its right knee kneeled harmlessly enough on the turf, but the left foot of the mechanized warrior terminated in what was now a mass of foliage.

"Not the azaleas," Sesshoumaru could be heard to mutter as his son and soon-daughter approached.

"Eh," his son responded, "it's still not as bad as that time with the fountain."

Sesshoumaru cocked an eyebrow in the direction of his son. "Perhaps," he responded flatly.

The fiance shrugged at the half-formed thought from his fiancee. 'No, I don't know what his obsession with the azaleas is.'

The two trudged rather wearily towards the house, Sesshoumaru in front and the rest of the party in tow, though the rest didn't seem to move as wearily. Ruri took his hand and leaned against him, closing her eyes as they walked. The youkai clung to the sensation, not taking any of it for granted, and closed his eyes as well, retracing from memory the steps to the door of what Sesshoumaru intended to become an ancestral home. Previously, he had been somewhat successful in hiding from her just how badly he had missed being by her side, but now he allowed the emotions to spill out into her mind. Ruri felt the emotions wash over her and caught his intent as he moved his head to better catch her smell.

'Baka, I'm tired and I haven't' seen water other than enough to drink in days and my hair is-'

'-I don't care. Yes, a lady is a lady, I understand that, and you are certainly a lady above all others, but... but I missed you, Ruri-chan.'

Ruri blushed slightly at the compliment as they continued their banter, oblivious to the various cooings Yurika was performing behind them. The rest of the entourage maintained some level of coolness, though none could deny amusement at the antics of Yurika as well as her adopted daughter and the younger's love.

However, the Lackeys, Saburouta, and the Tenkawas continued to pay more attention to their surroundings than the engaged couple. All except the latter stopped when they saw the head of the Inutaishou clan standing rigid in the doorway to his house. The youkai's son and soon-to-be-daughter-in-law, however, remained so wrapped up in each other's presence that they missed this simple fact and therefore collided squarely with the back of Sesshoumaru.

The younger demon shook his head quickly, refocusing on the scene beyond the door. Ruri peered around the elder youkai's shoulder as well, but let her youkai do most of the sensing. Inuyasha's first thought was another demon waiting for them who was trying to mask his youki. This was quickly tossed out as he could only smell the youki of Sesshoumaru tinged with the faintness of youki Ruri's hanyou blood gave off. Inuyasha then looked for other smells that might indicate danger. The skills as a swordsman he had developed hadn't found any malevolence. There was no violent ki anywhere to be found, except perhaps for Ryoko's natural agitated state. 'Perhaps all Ryokos are alike' was a muse that ran through his head when his love-addled dog brain suddenly figured it out. He furrowed his brow oddly and looked over at Ruri. "It would seem that Ryoko-san and Genichiro-san were not the only people that Hari-kun contacted."

// \\

Akatsuki Nagare shifted in his position on the bench for the fifth time in almost as many minutes and sighted yet again. "Oi, Fressange, how long are they going to take?"

Ines looked across the small room at him, her hands folded in her lap. "You would know how meetings go better than I would, former Chairman."

Nergal's former president fidgeted once again, once again grating on the scientist's nerves. He was even beginning to annoy the two other inhabitants of the room. One of them was following the banter between the adults, the other simply sat silently and stared into the mirror she held in her hands. "And why," he asked, "do I have to sit by the creepier one?"

Lapis Lazuli regarded the younger, mirror-wielding girl seated beside Nagare. "Akatsuki-san, I do not find her any 'creepier' than myself, and neither of us can compare to your behavior during the 'Miss Nadesico' competition."

Fressange smirked and prepared to heap further verbal pain upon Akatsuki but was cut off by the sound of the door at the end of the room opening. All four turned to watch Naraku enter the room, followed by Kagura. "It would seem that I, Naraku, underestimated the abilities of the line of Inutaishou."

Akatsuki folded his arms and began nodding his head in agreement. "I told you, the president of Nergal must be strong AND cunning. As well as to-die-for handsome."

The "youngest" of the group looked up from her mirror to stare into the face of the man sitting beside her. "If any or all of the three must be true, why were you chosen to lead Nergal?"

"Hey! Why does everyone always pick on the rich guy?"

Naraku ignored the comment and addressed the girl directly. "Have the repairs made to your mirror worked well, Kanna?"

"Yes," she responded slowly, returning her gaze to the glass. "They have arrived back at their estate."

Naraku smiled. "Then perhaps we should pay them a visit." He looked at the pair opposite Kanna. "You are Fressange, correct? Have you brought them?"

Ines, her eyes devoid of emotion, pulled a pair of Chulip crystals from her pocket and tossed them to the hanyou, who greedily snatched them from the air. He smiled as he held the blue crystals up to the light. "Those who claim the name of Hakushin always seem to serve me well."

"What do you of all people need with them?" Akatsuki asked.

"Your successor believed that CC's could possibly be used in a similar fashion to Shikon no Kakera," Ines said, naze nani obviously on the tip of her tounge. "Naraku most likely believes the same, and if research serves, in his previous life he used the Shikon no Kakera to aid in binding the youkai which he used to build his body out of."

"So... in other words, demon glue?" Akatsuki said.

Naraku smiled. "I suppose one could call it that. I see you've done your homework well, Fressange. Let us go."

// \\

The normal solitude of Sesshoumaru's estate had been shattered into rather small pieces. It appeared to the couple that in the time since Ruri's and Saburouta's rescue party had left that morning Hari had managed to gather a substantial portion of both past and present crew members together.

watched her youkai's eyebrow twinge with more than mild amusement and started guessing what Hari's tongue-lashing would comprise of. He certainly had a different method of chastising her "little brother" than she did, though she wondered if hers might not have been the more effective of the two.

"Maaakibiii Hariii!" The youkai roared, causing all motion in the house to summarily stop. The demon slowly and deliberately removed his weapons and tossed them onto a bench in the entryway. The assembled crew parted as the three with silver hair moved through the house, the youkai in front continuing to call out the young computer prodigy's name. His frustration mounting, Inuyasha threw open the doors to the seldom-used formal dining room to find it turned into a makeshift war room.

"Kanchou!" Hari called when they entered, racing towards the room's entry to greet her. As he passed Inuyasha, he suddenly felt all the wind leave his lungs in a rush. He looked down to see the demon's hand planted against his chest and halting his progress. "Ka...kanchou?" He sputtered out as looked back and forth between his captain and the one he still saw as his competition. The former simply watched him, betraying no emotion. The other took in the room, deigning to look down at the boy. Hari looked at Ruri again, his eyes searching for some kind of support when he suddenly felt the demon's hand clamp around his neck and lift him from the ground.

"Are you aware," Inuyasha began, his voice dangerously quiet, "of the danger you have placed everyone in by asking them here?" he nonchalantly tossed the teenager onto the table, causing maps and charts to scatter in his wake as the flailing body slid several feet down the furniture's length.

"But I wanted to get the Kanchou out of danger!"

Ruri and Inuyasha greeted Jun and Admirals Munetake and Misumaru as the youkai continued the argument. "Alright, then what was the danger?"

"It was... it was Naraku!"

"Saburouta-san and I never came face to face with Naraku," Ruri pointed out.

"So he couldn't have been the danger if he was never actually around them," the youkai concluded. The three senior officers in the room crossed their arms and bobbed their heads in unison. "The truth is," he continued, "you don't know what the danger was, do you? You don't know what the danger is now, do you?" The youkai sighed and popped the joints in an arm. "Look, Ruri's tired, I'm tired... Hell, I probably reek of sweat and blood. We're going to shower and change. Clean the crap out of this room and assemble everyone by the time we get back."

"Together?!" Hari cried in shock.

calmly walked over and thwacked Hari in the back of the head. "He never said 'together', just that they were both going. What, do you think he'd make her go shower at the neighbor's? Besides, what does it matter, anyways? They're the ones that are engaged."

// \\

Ruri supposed she couldn't blame him for remaining tense until he had satisfied himself that his own room was safe. With all of the other surprises in the house, she frankly would not have been surprised to have walked into the room to see Naraku boson-jumped in ahead of them and lounging on the futon. 'I still think you worry too much though, Inu-kun,' she teased.

'Yeah, well, youkai don't live-'

'Baka.'

Inuyasha laughed and shook his head. "The answer isn't forty-two, it's baka, that it is."

Ruri sighed and commandeered the suite's bathroom. She began filling the bath and then stepped into the shower to scrub off the layer of grime she felt from being stuck in the ruins for so long. She let the water pound her back as she let thoughts tumble through her head. 'Inu?'

'Hmm?'

'What really happened on that road?'

'What do you mean? You have all the details I know plus some I don't - you were still awake when I blacked out, weren't you?'

'Yes, I was, but I don't know why you blacked out, and I don't know why I lost you.'

Disregarding what little modesty they still shared between each other, the youkai found himself bolting into the bathroom and staring at the shower's frosted door. "Nani?! What do you mean, 'lost me'?"

Ruri opened the door and leaned around it, her soapy hair spilling around the frame. "I mean, from the moment you lifted that sword until the moment you blacked out, I lost you. Your mind completely disappeared from me. It wasn't like when I was in deep space, where you're faint. You were gone. As if... as if you were dead..."

Inuyasha stepped into the shower, clothes and all, and wrapped his arms around her. "Now you're the one worrying needlessly." He gently kissed her forehead. "I summoned Straasha by going to his plane. It's more... reliable... to perform summonings that way."

Ruri let his thoughts filter through her head, watching everything that transpired before he blacked out. "I understand that you have an opportunity to become more powerful, and I know that you only want to become more powerful to protect me and those you consider family. However, it's not worth it. One thing always struck me in reading that book-"

"-that the laws of physics would imply that it would be rather easy to become trapped in that realm," Inuyasha finished softly.

'Exactly. I lost Akito for almost five years; I don't want to lose you, too,' she responded silently, holding him tightly.

// \\

The two returned downstairs to find a much less chaotic household waiting for them. The two entered the formal dining hall to find everyone patiently seated around the table. The youkai was slightly surprised that his father had abdicated the chair at the head of the table, apparently intending it for the younger of the two youkai. Instead, he placed Ruri there, preferring to sit at the chair to her right. He was also grateful to note that Hari was sandwiched in between Yukina and Izumi instead of by whom the boy would have preferred, which now would have placed him at the youkai's right. Neither of the two were sure what needed to be said the assemblage. Giving in to the impatience of his uncle, Inuyasha spoke first, slouching back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Alright, are there any questions?"

Yukina was the first to lean forward. "Ano... why are we here?"

"I certainly don't have an answer. Ask Hari."

"Um, the Kanchou, well... um..." Hari stammered, then pounded his fists against the table and stood up. "Why do I have to explain why the kanchou was kidnapped? It sounds silly!"

"Hari-kun, again, that is not the question. The question was why everyone is here."

"But... but Inutaishou-san, isn't she worth everyone's lives to you?"

The youkai stared at the human for a moment before responding, "I have chosen her as my bride by human standards and as my life-mate by youkai standards, a vow not even my father swore to my mother. I would die to save her, I would kill those who sought to harm her. However, I would never ask another to do so for me, and if I were to allow another into a situation where it was kill or be killed on her behalf, it would only be with their full knowledge of the danger before them."

"But none of them are in danger!"

Ruri's betrothed marveled at his love's patience with Hari when she answered. "Hari-kun, we discussed this. They are in danger now. This house isn't safe because Naraku knows where we are. He could come after Sesshoumaru-sama and Inu-kun at an time."

Admiral Misumaru, seated at the foot of the table, coughed slightly to gain everyone's attention. He laced his fingers and leaned against the table. "'Come after' the two of you. Why? Bad business deal? Family feud?"

Sesshoumaru flashed his Famous Mysterious Smile(tm). "I suppose you might say family feud. You would probably seek revenge against me as well if my brother and I killed you, too." Satisfied he had his audience's attention, he proceeded to eloquently, elaborately and verbosely describe the family's history with the man Onigumo and the hanyou Naraku.

Jun stood when Sesshoumaru had finished. "So how do we help you? Makibi may not have told us what we were getting into, but now we know. All of us have loyalties to one or both of the women we call 'Kanchou.' now that I'm here, I'm here and will do what I can to protect my captain. I say if anyone isn't willing to risk their life for either Yurika or Ruri-chan, then they leave now."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Such is agreeable. Any afraid or fearing disloyalty may leave with no repercussions."

Johnson and Williams looked at each other, then stood and began walking towards the door, the only two to do so. Williams Haruko tried not to meet Dean's gaze as it followed her.

"One moment," Inuyasha said, halting the weapons and communications officers. They stood, halfway to the head of the table and the door, staring at Inuyasha. "Dean, don't you intend to stand by this woman?"

Dean stood, slightly awkwardly. "Ha.. hai," he stammered.

"You have nothing to fear or be ashamed of," Sesshoumaru commented with a warmth that shocked the room. Dean walked to Inuyasha's chair, taking Haruko's hand and bringing her with him. Lisette Johnson timidly followed suit until the three all stood at the head of the table. Dean produced a small jeweled tanto from inside his shirt and stared at it for a moment before handing it to the youkai, who stood to receive it.

"Go with Inutaishou's blessings," the youkai said with a smile.

Though puzzled by the display, the room held its collective tongue. Sesshoumaru rose and nodded to Akito. "We will begin preparing the evening meal. We shall require assistance."

The table took the cue and considered itself dismissed. Inuyasha grabbed Ruri and Saburouta and quickly stepped out into the hallway.

"Oi, Inu-san, Ruri-san, what was that in there?" Saburouta asked, indicating the display with Dean.

"It's a custom father started back in Sengoku-Jidai. He had adopted a human girl when she was a child, and when he saw her married, he and the lord she wed agreed that there would always be a pair of guards available for Rin's protection. There were several different pairs during Rin's life, and when she died they swore their loyalty directly to Sesshoumaru-sama. He found it a useful way to hide the fact he was youkai from society, and up until shortly before my mother's death, always maintained a pair of aides. I revived it when I undertook conquering Nergal. The rules are simple. The Lackey swears loyalty to this house and its members. If a lackey betrays that loyalty he or she is killed and if they bring someone into the family who betrays that loyalty, they either cut themselves off from that person or leave. Haruko betrayed that loyalty by condoning Hari's actions. Dean would have ended the relationship if he had not chosen to leave."

"What about Hari?"

"Hari's family," Inuyasha said, shrugging. "He will be your call," he finished, indicating Ruri.

"And the tanto?"

Inuyasha held up the small blade. "There are two. Greg carries the other. They belonged to the first Lackeys, even if they weren't called that, and have been passed down since."

He extended the knife towards Saburouta. "You've served Ruri well over the past few years. Care to stick around for a few more?"

Saburouta shrugged with characteristic abandon, "Sure."

Ruri looked up at him, "You realize this means you expect Inu-kun to protect everyone you bring into our house with the same ferocity that he expects you to protect me with?"

"Hai," Saburouta replied, accepting the blade and placing it in the back of his belt beneath his uniform. "And now, my first act as a member of the family will be to raid your fridge. Ja ne!"

// \\

Sesshoumaru gave up and admitted defeat, shooing Akito out of his kitchen. As he had suspected, almost everyone followed the former pilot as he left the room. The only one left in the kitchen was certainly welcome, as she appeared to have greater culinary skill than he possessed.

"Howmei-san, ne?"

"Hai," she responded, emptying vegetables into a nearby pot before placing the pot on the stove.

"Do any of these people have jobs?" Sesshoumaru pondered aloud.

Howmei laughed. "Of course. They're all just fiercely loyal to those two women."

"And you?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Howmei shrugged. "Run a restaurant. It was slow today, so I closed up Peaceful Days early and answered Hari's summons."

"Ah. I believe I remember the place." The youkai smiled, "That boy certainly has a way of infuriating my son. Of course, worsening the matter is how much he takes after his uncle, stubborn with a tendency to be overconfident. Not unlike the one infuriating him."

"Then perhaps Ruri will help him," Howmei commented, returning her attentions to cooking.

// \\

If Akito were completely honest, he would admit that he wanted to hide from everyone, including Yurika, right now. Granted, his memory was returning, but he wasn't as comfortable around her as he remembered being. However, Yurika would neither be dismissed nor be dislodged from his arm. As such, the two found themselves wandering through Sesshoumaru's library.

"Ne, Akito?" Yurika started, "what're you thinking?"

He focused on the luminous eyes next to him. He shook his head slightly. "Nothing, really." The eyes gave him a look which clearly communicated that they didn't believe the two words. Yurika was often ditzy, sometimes silly and foolish, sometimes selfish, but never stupid nor loving him with anything less than her whole heart. Time certainly hadn't changed those facts.

Akito let his free hand brush against books both ancient and new. "Just having trouble adjusting, I guess. I can only remember the past year and a half clearly. The first memory I can place exactly after my childhood was waking up one morning next to Kagura, as if I'd always been there. All our time together, our time on the Nadesico, it's... ghost-like, I guess. I _know_ so many things happened, but I don't necessarily have a clear _memory_ of them happening."

"Are you sure you want a straight answer, Akito-kun?" a familiar voice behind them asked.

"Erina! What are you doing here?" Yurika gasped in shock as they turned to face the voice behind them.

"Hari contacted me, why else? Besides, I came to see Akito, not a itachi-musume like you or a tanuki-chan like Ruri."

Akito scratched the back of his head. "Maybe a weasel for Yurika, but Ruri a raccoon? That doesn't seem accurate."

Both women ignored Akito's comment, preferring to stare icily at each other a few minutes longer, leaving Akito wishing he could melt into the bookcase next to him. A soft and deep cough interrupted the staring contest, rescuing Akito from becoming one with the page. It was Admiral Misumaru employing his favorite interrupter who stood at the other end of the row of books.

"It would seem to me," he began, "that Akito-kun's symptoms mirror those found in reports rumored to be submitted to the U.E. Spacey by Nergal concerning the wiping of memories."

"And how would you have come into possession of those reports?" Erina archly asked.

"I never said I did, nor did I say that they actually existed. However, I believe you have just confirmed that both are true for you," he finished the sentence wearing the Cheshire cat's grin. "So please, enlighten us on these reports which don't really exist."

Akito and Yurika turned to look at Erina again and suddenly wished winter clothing was immediately available. "A study was conducted to see if memories could be accurately erased, in the hopes that severe cases of trauma at witnessing human catastrophes and disasters could simply be wiped away."

"Such would also be an effective tool to use on assassins who had served their purpose so that they could not implicate whomever ordered the 'hit'," Ruri's soft voice observed, appeared behind the admiral.

Saburouta poked his head around the corner as well. "Same could be said of terrorists, ne?"

Erina's eyes narrowed. "If you're just going to stand around and accuse me, I'm just going to leave." She turned and collided with dark garnet firerat fur.

Inhuman eyes looked down at her. "No one's accusing anyone of anything. We're just here to ensure Akito is able to find the truth, not someone's version of it which has been edited to cast themselves in the best light possible."

Erina took a step back and smirked. "Of course, you wouldn't have any experience with that, would you?"

He shrugged. "I did write my own resume," he retorted, smiling at his own bad joke. "Now. Was this procedure performed on Akito?"

"I wouldn't know. I wasn't the only person he dealt with at Nergal."

"That's not true!" Yurika cried, her voice nearing a fever pitch. "The file Ruri-chan and Inu-kun gave us said you were Akito's sole contact within Nergal apart from when he trained under Genichiro !"

"Fine," Erina snapped, the anger blatant in her voice. "The procedure was performed upon Tenkawa Akito. Mental anguish from multiple scenarios which included high stress and anxiety situations resulted in a prognosis of ever-increasing instability with a final outcome of either complete breakdown, insanity, or.. suicide." She stumbled over the last word and lowered her head so that her hair shielded her eyes. "Simulations predicted that the third outcome was most likely... and that drastic measures should be taken... to protect Nergal interests and investments." She raised her head and genuine tears looked Akito and Yurika. "I'm sorry... both of you... I'm sorry."

// \\

_And now, the finale..._


	12. Two Hellblades Take Different Paths & En

The youkai forced himself from slumber, careful to keep from waking Ruri. He could sense his father's jaki on the roof just above the window, which was not a good sign. He slipped into the rest of his firerat kimono and silently leapt up to the roof to join his father.

As usual, Sesshoumaru appeared as if rest was something he never required, despite the fact Inuyasha knew that the elder would have been the last asleep last night if he had slept at all. All of that however, was a fleeting thought in the younger youkai's mind. In the forefront was a memory of the last time that he had been on this roof with his father seated on the same tiles he occupied now. It was the time when his father had forbade him from mating with other youkai.

"Ohayo, Sesshoumaru-sama," he opened calmly.

"You're not faking this old man. I am aware that our location brings you anxiety," Sesshoumaru replied, never taking his eyes off of the greying horizon.

The younger sat a few tiles away and behind his father. "I would assume this conversation to be no less important, and of a similar nature, since you appear to not want Ruri here."

"Despite your connection with each other, each does not know the other perfectly, just as you do not each know yourselves perfectly. You are both young for your species. Hoshino-san is far from naive, but she is still innocent. As my son, you are neither, even if at times you still try."

The younger shrugged. "Parts of her are still intimidated by all of this, and she still has the ability to intimidate me as well," he replied, the cryptic nature intentional.

Sesshoumaru looked at the black blade laying at his feet. "Everything that breathes has something it is intimidated by. It is not necessarily a bad thing when that which intimidates you is something that you also can trust implicitly."

"I suppose I can't argue with that," the younger replied quietly, mirroring his father's intent gaze upon the horizon without realizing it.

"How do you see your current relationship with Kagura?" Sesshoumaru asked plainly, abruptly changing the subject.

Inuyasha stared at the back of his father's head, one eyebrow threatening to pop off of his head and suspend itself in midair. He carefully measured his tones in his reply. "To be honest, I don't know. Even if she had no choice, she has betrayed this house. On the other hand..." he paused to choose his words.

"On the other hand, despite not taking her as a life-mate, you did in fact mate with her, thereby swearing to protect her." Sesshoumaru finished for him. "However, you also realize that to protect she whom you have sworn to life-mate with, you may have to break your previous oath." Sesshoumaru shrugged. "Had the two of you fulfilled your oath already, it would have nullified your oath to Kagura. I am not one to dwell on the past, but it would have allowed you to use another sword when you showed her your Ryu Tsui Sen. Enough prattle." The youkai's gaze at the horizon became a fierce glare. "I sense Naraku's presence approaching. It is too faint for you yet, but he comes." He rose and gathered his blade. Sesshoumaru turned, more advice on his tongue, when he saw his son's face several shades brighter than the kimono the younger wore.

"I take it then that your oath is indeed nullified. May I enquire as to how long such as been the case?"

Inuyasha blinked and for the briefest of moments considered taking a swing at his father. "You most certainly may _not_," he snapped. He stopped and breathed deeply for a few seconds to center and calm himself. "Regardless, I'd prefer not to kill unless forced.

"A bit hypocritical coming from someone who is versed and experienced in the arts of assassination, and is the son of killing perfection."

The younger shrugged and stood as well. "Because one trains as something does not mean they are as such. At times, perhaps, but people change. Events conspire against us," he said briskly, heading back towards the room where Ruri still was.

"Perhaps Ruri will help him, indeed," Sesshoumaru muttered, quoting Howmei.

Inuyasha hoped down from the roof onto his balcony to find Ruri already awake and dressed. She gave him her small smile. "You're not very good at telling whether I'm awake or not."

"No, I suppose not," he replied, returning the smile.

She followed him into the room. "As much as you enjoy the mechanics of battojutsu and kenjutsu, you're really not looking forward to this, are you?"

He turned and put on a smile he didn't feel. "There's a reason 'doom' is another word for 'destiny.'"

'Baka.'

'Hai.'

// \\

A greater polarity of mood at the breakfast table probably could not have existed. At one end, both physically and metaphorically, was Sesshoumaru, who was uncharacteristically being the gracious host and regaling the tableful of guests with tales form the Meiji and Sengoku Jidai Eras. At the other end of the spectrum and table sat the youkai's son, who had donned the dark aura his father normally wore. The entire table was aware of the dichotomy but most of it chose to ignore it. Only Greg, Saburouta and Ruri chose to remain aware of the mood beside them.

Saburouta fidgeted nervously where he sat, unable to grok why Greg and Ruri didn't ask about the brooding demon. "Oi, Inu-san, something's dark in there," the Jovian commented to his new boss, to which Greg responded with a swift elbow to the new Lackey's ribs.

Inuyasha shook himself from his reverie. "Greg, go ahead and tell him, you know there is nothing about any of our pasts that should be hidden from Ruri," he said as he stood up.

'Inu-kun...'

'Please stay. You remember where all of the weapons are kept?'

Ruri paused before responding and felt Inuyasha's reason approaching as Sesshoumaru excused himself from the table as well. 'Hai.' She responded and felt a shadow cross her own face.

Saburouta looked at Greg, missing Ruri's expression. "Naze? Nani? Oi?"

Greg's face darkened as he stood and moved towards the armoury which had years ago housed jewel shards. "Before he met nee-san, he spent some time in Mexico. Every time before a big fight or turf war, he'd put on that face. I can't sense ki, but that's what we called it... 'Killing Ki.' The guy hates killing, but whenever he puts on that face, someone isn't going to make it home alive."

// \\

Inuyasha stood beside his father. They had moved far enough away from the house that everyone inside should be safe enough unless things went very badly, in which case they should have enough advance warning to be able to safely vacate the premises. That way was not an eventuality that either particularly cherished, but both forced themselves to acknowledge.

Inuyasha wasn't comfortable with the weapons he was carrying. Bullets of course would be rather meaningless and thus he only carried swords, one of which he was comfortable enough with. The Tenseiga had served him as well as it had served his father, but it was the other blade he carried which disquieted him. In deference to Ruri had had left Straasha's blade at the house and carried the Toukijin. While the sword did not sing its bloodlust as loudly as Sesshoumaru's new weapon did, it still sang nonetheless.

Sesshoumaru refused to admit concern over his blade. He had become master of the Toukijin by merely picking up the blade. It had shared with him everything it was the moment he came into contact with it. This blade was far older and refused to surrender its knowledge so easily. But that didn't matter. In the end, it would yield to Sesshoumaru, just as the Toukijin had.

The wind picked up, blowing into their faces from the direction Naraku was coming from and bringing a renewed sense of his stench with it. Both demons were sure that this was no puppet approaching them, but Naraku himself. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru both picked up traces of the Kagura they knew, but it was just an undercurrent to Naraku's funk. There seemed to be at least one more approaching, but neither could be sure; the scent of Naraku was overpowering all other scents in the area.

Their wait was short. It wasn't long until a black cloud of miasma approached in a swirling, writing mass. The two unsheathed their accursed weapons, both eschewing battoujutsu techniques worthless with a straight, double-edged blade. The miasma parted and Kagura, Kanna and Naraku descended to the plain.

// \\

The three humans had been handed off by Naraku to a group of armed guards, though perhaps "armed monks" was more accurate. Lapis was the only one to recognize their garments as similar to or the same as the ones worn by Hakushin's group.

Akatsuki and Fressange glanced nervously about them as they stood. The guards were apparently waiting for something, but what it was none of the trio knew. One word cut through the silence around them and their guard, knotting the stomachs of all three at what that word meant.

"Jump."

// \\

Had the imposing father-figure of Sesshoumaru been present at his estate, things most likely wouldn't have been any less chaotic. It wasn't the just-under-control chaos of battle that normally exuded from seasoned space crews in a situation such as this. It was just pure chaos. The dining room once again reverted to a war room, as Ruri, Jun and the two admirals sought to keep everyone under control.

The Heirs of Mars materializing in the front yard was the first step into chaos. When they had first been spotted, things remained the expected, controlled chaos. Old and new members of the crew grabbed whatever weapon they could get if they had not brought their own (though Ruri wasn't sure if Gotoh had brought two assault rifles with him or if he had borrowed them from the house's collection) and prepared to keep the old threat out of their temporary home.

Then someone noticed Akatsuki and Fressange in the midst of the newcomers with a young girl between them. Suddenly all of both crews started arguing about if there was an enemy at all with the exception of the senior staff. Those most familiar with the two adults, the aforementioned senior staff, each held their own and differing opinion, though none, not even Ruri nor Jun, would voice it at this point.

Ruri walked to a window overlooking the point where the "guests" had jumped in and where they still stood, as if waiting for instructions. Her eyes searched through the crowd as Saburouta, Yurika and Akito walked up behind her.

Saburouta propped against the frame and silently counted how many there were. "Oi, Ruri-san, where do we stand?" he asked as he continued his count.

Ruri shook her head. "We don't even know yet what they're here for." Finally, she found the object of her search. With six of the robes surrounding them stood Inez, Nagare, and "'Lapis Lazuli-'"

'Nani?'

"Nani?" Akito asked, as if to echo the query from Inuyasha's mind.

'Ruri, what is it? You've been subconsciously blocking me, but I can tell your anxiety's increasing and it seems to have just doubled.'

'Baka. We can handle this. We've been through worse, and my anxiety is nothing compared to yours.'

'Correct on four counts. I suppose I should leave you to your fight.'

'And me to yours,' Ruri thought more to herself than to him.

'Be careful.'

'What, Sesshoumaru's son and Inuyasha's nephew telling someone to be careful?' she retorted.

'Baka.'

'Perhaps.'

Oblivious to a discussion they could not hear, Saburouta, Akito and Yurika located the trio Ruri had found a few moments before. Akito's eyes focused and refocused on the scene before him, trying to reconcile themselves to memories others had sought to lock away forever.

Yurika's eyes searched her husband's face with a query that made Ruri's earlier gaze look like a passing glance. "Akito, what is it?"

"I... I remember.." he stammered quietly.

"Akito-san, what do you remember?" Ruri questioned.

"Everything..." he replied softly.

// \\

Youkai regarded youkai, as the wielders of the Toukijin and the runeblade gauged their resurrected opponent's strength before attacking.

"You must be desperate for youkai blood, Naraku, to challenge this Sesshoumaru so brazenly."

"You're one to speak of brazenness, after I gave you so much to help you kill that pathetic half-brother of yours," Naraku returned.

"Which you followed by kidnapping one under my protection."

"A human wench shouldn't have mattered to the igreat/i Sesshoumaru."

"My matters are none of your concern, and your matters are none of mine. Yet when you hold captive someone a member of this house has chosen to protect, it is a matter which I cannot overlook."

"And when it involves the one I intend to marry," Inuyasha interrupted, "not overlooking means your blood on my sword." Inuyasha punctuated the threat by leaping forward with the Toukijin held high. He brought it down against their enemy but found it blocked by Kanna's barrier.

"I think, puppy," Kagura snorted, "that the two of you will have to defeat us before you can defeat Naraku."

"So be it," her former lover replied with equal snort.

// \\

"Ne! Akito! Ne, Akito!" Yurika called, chasing Akito as closely as she could. She was afraid that in a panic over regaining his forcibly-suppressed memories that he might disappear again, and his actions were worsening those fears. They had left the house and he was getting dangerously close to Ryoko's Aestivalis, with the house thankfully blocking the red machine from the view of the "guests" who had decided to drop in.

As he stopped to climb up into the cockpit, Yurika caught up the final steps and grabbed his sleeve. "You can't leave!" she exclaimed, the anger in her face betrayed by the sadness in her eyes.

His descent back to the prince of darkness stopped momentarily as he turned to look at her, halfway on the ladder to the cockpit and his eyes full of sorrow. "I... I have to, Yurika."

Her grip on his sleeve tightened. "Are you coming back?"

He tried to push the emotions away but couldn't and his eyes reflected it. "I hope so," he replied.

// \\

Admiral Misumaru opened the glass doors and stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the self-named Heirs of Mars. "What is it you're here for?"

One of them, apparently the leader of the group before them, stepped forward. "The great priest Hakushin whishes attendance from some said to be currently in this domicile. Since this domicile isn't yours, I'd suggest you let us in. I'm sure you don't want to have the repair bills on iyour/i tab, eh?"

"'Hakushin' died in battle with Tenkawa-kun two years ago. The body was recovered," Misumaru pointed out simply.

"One leader falls, another takes his place," the man replied with equal objectivity. "Now, may we come in and discuss this like gentlemen?"

Admiral Munetake stepped up beside Kochirou, and with drew his sidearm, firing a warning shot, which bounced off of the Successor's distortion field. "I don't quite think you're welcome here, and I'm quite certain that relieving us of our A- and B-class jumpers is imost/i unwelcome. I'd say this is especially true if one of them is marrying the son of the owner of this house which you're so worried about damaging."

"We will not abide by this peace!"

Saburouta looked over at Hari, "Oi, is this guy related to you?"

Misumaru Kochirou spoke, his tone even. "Whether or not there is peace or not is not the issue at the moment. At the moment, we request that you leave this place immediately and return our acquaintances you hold. We are prepared to use force if necessary."

On cue every window's sash and shutter opened to reveal rather displeased-looking UE Spacy officers and personnel. In a typical display of machismo, Gotoh Hori appeared on the roof wielding his weaponry.

The leader of the assemblage on the lawn smiled slightly. He was forced to admit that the band of misfits led by the two "past-prime" admirals and the Electronic Fairy did indeed have them outgunned at the moment. However, he still held his last card, which would be played... now.

Ruri and Admiral Misumaru formed the same glare as the flash before them subsided, while Munetake bore an amused smile and Jun let his jaw fall open slightly until his face reflected the anger welling up in him. Four of the same class Aestivalis used by the successors had boson-jumped into position behind their allies. Ryoko and Genpauchirou broke themselves from their stupor and raced towards where they had left their machinery.

// \\

Yurika had released Akito's sleeve and stepped back from him, tears welling up and threatening to erupt from her eyes. "I don't want you to leave again, Akito. Everyone needs you. Ruri, Ryoko, Lapis, and most of all... I need you, Akito."

The conversation was cut short by the appearance of the Aestivalis' owners bolting towards them. "N... nani?" was all Akito could think to greet them with.

"Akito-kun! They brought Aesti's!" Ryoko exclaimed breathlessly.

The Prince of darkness asserted itself in Akito's mind. "I have to borrow this," he said simply, his voice losing warmth by the syllable. He nodded to the Jovian, who made no reply but turned and headed for his own machine.

"Akito!" Yurika said loudly, causing Akito to stop where he was as he climbed into the mecha. "You will come back, or Ruri and I will hunt you to your grave!"

He looked back down to the ground where she defiantly stood, and the slightest trace of her Akito entered his eyes. "I know." He looked over to Genichiro and called "Youkoso!"

// \\

The four youkai had paired off against each other, the older of each pair fighting the younger of the other. Though to be fully accurate, Sesshoumaru and Kagura were fighting. To everyone present, the current Inuyasha was doing a very good impression of his late uncle by bouncing around Kanna and striking harmlessly at her barrier.

"Do you not tire of that?" she asked, the boredom evident in her voice. "Surely you do not use your sword to simply split firewood?"

The younger youkai smirked. "And if I do, that's my choice." He paused and coiled his arms, leveling his sword.

"So you finally come straight at me?" Kanna asked, squaring herself at him and aiming his mirror straight at him.

Kagura and Sesshoumaru mutually stopped their own fight in fear of the outcome beside them. Kagura did not want to admit that she still felt any kind of allegiance to the puppy, but still forced herself to hold her tongue to keep from uttering a cry of warning. Sesshoumaru however did admit he gave a damn about his offspring. He started to step forward but felt Kagura's fan rest with force against his arm. "And where are you going?" She asked snidely. "That's not your fight over there. It is your son's."

Sesshoumaru glowered at Naraku's offspring but said nothing. Naraku, however, was enjoying the display all four were putting on. "My, my, how children do behave," he observed with an evident smirk in his voice.

Inuyasha raced forward, but instead of trying to pierce the barrier he let loose a tremendous volley of Toukijin's projectiles, which Kanna sucked into her mirror. A split second later it regurgitated them in a violent display of light.

Sesshoumaru was convinced that his son had not survived and turned his attention back to Kagura, preparing to attack again. He paused, as her attentions had not returned to her own battle. He lifted his sword, intending to bring her back into focus so that he could dispatch with her and move on to the real goal of Naraku.

Kagura's attention, however, refused to waver from her older sister's battle, unconvinced that it was over. Sesshoumaru risked a glance over his shoulder, fearing trickery on Kagura's part. He found that he had fallen for the ploy that his son had hoped Kanna would fall for. Kanna had apparently taken the bait as she was still focused where he had attacked her from, unaware that he was gracefully sailing over her head and alighting behind her. He spun and held the blade in his left hand near the end of the tsuka, the tip of the Toukijin resting in the air above his outstretched right hand. His weight was shifted back, posed to throw itself forward as he considered his opponent in the split second she was unaware he was behind her.

Sesshoumaru noted that his son had not completely escaped injury, as a different shade of crimson stained a part of his robe. However, he felt his eyes widen at what he saw before him. The Toukijin began to glow with a blood-red light which he had only seen emanate from the Tetsusaiga. He knew that youkai no mizu were capable of casting barriers, particularly water barriers, but he was unaware that they could use any weapon to cut them or even that such techniques had been handed down by his former mate.

Kanna became aware that the returned attack did not have its intended effect and began to turn as Inuyasha lunged towards the point in the barrier he saw as weakest. The need for surprise gone, the youkai let loose a fearsome cry of "Gatotsu!" as the blade rammed into the barrier.

There was slight shock but no fear on Kanna face as she watched her barrier melt under the attack against it. She faced him and held out her mirror before him, unsure if she did so as a defense or as an offering. She watched dispassionately as he lifted the sword, holding it in both hands as he continued his rapid advance towards her. The usefulness of Gatotsu past, he swung the blade down towards her, striking the mirror but missing her completely. Her face betrayed no emotion as she watched the split mirror fall from her hands. The youkai swung again at the falling pieces and before they were able to touch the ground struck them again. The Toukijin vented its frustrations from being unable to strike anything earlier by splintering the frame into thousands of fragments.

The two combatants considered each other for a few moments as the other three watched, waiting for the death blow. Inuyasha instead turned and nodded to his father then addressed Kagura. "Gomen nasai, kagura-san. Kanna-san will fight no further, and we cannot allow you to either."

With that, he hurled the Toukijin at her like a spear, impaling her leg. The force of the blow drove her backwards a few feet before it lodged into the ground, effectively binding her. Sesshoumaru raised his black sword across his chest in preparation to attack their true target. "Cruel, perhaps, but nonetheless effective," he commented. "It's time to end this game."

The younger nodded. "Youkoso."

// \\

Akito loosed an animalistic war cry as he leaped the loaned Aestivalis over the roof of the estate. Two of the Successors' mecha remembered to raise their weapons and fire, but their shots were wide and sailed mostly harmless over the house. "Mostly" because one of the shots did manage to destroy the neighbor's pool house and another totaled a porsche a few doors down that its owner had just brought home that morning.

The mech-less successors scattered as the Nadesico's crew poured out of the house to subdue them in the confusion Akito created. Akito landed the red Aesti in between the two mecha who had fired upon him. Both leveled their weapons on him but he triggered the jump jets again as they fired, with the net result being a few rounds bouncing off of the Aestivalis' armour and the rest of the rounds embedding into each other. The two units rendered each other into completely ineffective hunks of metal before either of their pilots realized what they had done.

As Akito landed, he unfurled the Katar-like blades encased in the forearms of the mecha and dove forward towards the open back of one of the two still-standing units. The other pilot realized his peril, but not in time to do anything about it as Akito drove the blade into the shield generator,piercing the powerplant beyond. The final mecha found its trigger and turned to rain doom upon its enemy, but found its red unit one step ahead of it. Akito wheeled, still attached to the downed mecha and let the felled Successor shield his own mech from the rain of gattling fire. The Prince of Darkness flashed a brief smirk of triumph as he fired both arm's fists into the felled unit he held, turning a Gekigan-punch into something akin to Gekigan-body toss against the other unit. Genichiro 's Aestivalis arrived in time to see Akito recall the fists back to the unit and return the Katars back into the forearms, and to see the red Aestivalis standing triumphantly amid four scrapheaps formerly known as the Successor's mecha.

// \\

Inuyasha pulled the Tenseiga from his side as he moved to stand beside his father as the two regarded Naraku for a moment before destroying him. Naraku adopted his favorite smirk as he needled, "So, you're going to use a sword which can't cut against me? If you're going to stop playing games by playing another game, I suppose I'll take my leave of you now."

The two of the house of Inutaishou bore identical smirks as Naraku's retreat suddenly stopped when he bounced off of a barrier cast by the younger of the house. "What?" Inuyasha asked innocently, "Did you think that you held the rights to that or something? I suppose I should say something to make you further understand your position or at least scream out my attack, but screw it. I didn't ask for you to be revived, and I'd just like to get this fight over with. End of speech. So. Amakakeru. Ryu. No Hirameki."

Naraku simply accepted the attack, expecting the sword to do nothing to damage him. He felt a tremendous force across his torso which caused no small amount of discomfort, but nothing compared to a Miko's arrow. He smirked as the young youkai flew past. "Is that all?" he sneered.

"Yep, that it is. From me, at least," the demon replied, landing several feet behind Naraku.

Naraku's sneer lasted only a few seconds. The same amount of time, actually, that it took for Tenseiga's light to fade from around him. The hanyou suddenly felt as if the universe itself was trying to rip him apart. The Tenseiga's power was separating out every demon he had absorbed and resurrecting them, robbing him of his strength and his essence. Then, he saw his doom. Sesshoumaru was cleaving through the mass of newly-revived demons with the black blade his own minion had once wielded. He had never paid attention to the sword's voice before, but it was quite plain now. It sang joyously as it killed and drank the souls of the youkai that had once been a part of him. The Tenseiga had unfortunately not wholly disconnected them from him, and the searing pain of Sesshoumaru's hell-blade roared through him.

Inuyasha had leapt away from where he had landed behind Naraku, fearing that Sesshoumaru had not fully become master of the blade yet and as such his own father might inadvertently turn on him. If the mythos was true it would certainly not be the first such incident in the history of either runeblade. His more permanent landing had placed him beside Kanna, as he knew that if he stood beside Kagura he could not have kept himself from loosing her and placing his father in danger. He watched as Sesshoumaru drove the point of his blade into Naraku's throat. He saw a blur move beside him and turned to see Kanna fall down and begin gasping for air. He grasped the Tenseiga hilt, unsure of what to do, when Kanna rolled onto her stomach. Tenseiga lent him its perception, one which had had grown accustomed to seeing. It was the shadow world between life and death revealing itself before an outsider and still held the ability to weaken his resolve at times. He saw what it was that Tenseiga wanted him to see. It was the thread which connected the scar on Kanna's back with Naraku's. As Naraku's soul fought the Runeblade, it was also trying to reclaim Kanna's and Kagura's souls to fortify itself.

Kanna looked up at him as the youkai withdrew the Tenseiga from its scabbard, her eyes for once betraying her emotions and showing her fear and pain. She watched as his face hardened as he held the blade before him. "Aku. Soku. Zan," he chanted and swung. Kanna felt the blade pass along her back and suddenly felt Naraku's draw on her cease.

Inuyasha watched as she tried to get back to her feet but stumbled. He caught her and laid her out on the grass, the Tenseiga assuring him that she was fine. He quickly moved to where Kagura lay gasping on the grass and quickly repeated the procedure he had performed on Kanna, then removed the Toukijin and healed that wound as well. Kagura gathered herself on the grass, not even attempted to stand. "Certainly took you long enough, kisama."

Sesshoumaru felt the fight suddenly leave Naraku's soul and the blade quickly passed on the strength it gleaned from it. He wrenched his blade free of the corpse which was quickly turning into dust beneath him. He turned and walked towards his son, who was still kneeling next to Kagura. He looked down at the sword in his hand, which still cried for blood and souls. "You have seen all of the violence that there will be today," Sesshoumaru murmured to it. "Silence now."

The blade howled its protest and threw itself at the demon's son, causing Sesshoumaru to almost lose his grasp on the weapon. He stumbled forward and watched his son's face put on his youkai no mizu mask. The younger fluidly parried the blow with the Toukijin, which set up its own howl of protest at being used against the master it had so faithfully served for centuries. The two broke off from each other and the son slowly backed away from his father, sword held defensively in front of him. "I take it there was an under-estimation in the power of your weapon."

"So it would seem," Sesshoumaru returned, the blade twitching in his hands.

Kagura stumbled to her feet, aware of the peril before her but nonetheless feeling slightly giddy at truly being as free from Naraku as she thought she was almost a millennium before. She slowly walked to stand beside Inuyasha despite the rebuke in his eyes. "I think I know what I'm doing, puppy. I have several centuries on you after all."

An eyebrow was raised in reply. "Just be sure you remember you're fighting a weapon, not Sesshoumaru-sama."

"Fu, fu, fu," she retorted, hiding behind her fan. "All those quiet years, and all of a sudden we get two fights in a row where the enemy is a sword not its wielder."

"Whatever," Inuyasha replied, never taking his eyes off of the opposing blade. "Just promise me you'll be careful? We may not be mates but we're still allies."

"Always the softie," Kagura replied, her voice mellowing for battle. "I suppose that's what the doll sees in you. Quite a couple... the porcelain doll and the plushie puppy."

"Shut up and fight, temee," Inuyasha growled.

"That's better, Kagura returned, then without warning darted forward, loosing a volley of windblades.

Sesshoumaru saw the volley coming and suddenly felt oddly detached from the scene. He saw the runeblade leap to meet the onslaught, dragging his arm and his self with it. He tried to reassert himself as the blade's master, failing once again. He watched without hope as the hellbade sheared through the Fuujin no Mai and drove towards Kagura, who was caught unprepared for this event. Every figure of strength he contained battled with the blade to change its path with no success as it pierced Kagura.

For the only time he could remember, his eyes held remorse and apology as his gaze met hers. He heard his son howl in anger behind her and heard the boy drop the Toukijin to the ground. He wanted to tell his son of the futility of Tenseiga at this point but knew his son would ignore even the sword's advice. He watched as Inuyasha leapt over Kagura and collided with him, the force of the impact and Sesshoumaru's grip on the runelbade's hilt removing the sword from Kagura's dying body. Once he felt the blade free of her, he let it fly from his hand to let it fall satiated to the ground. He watched silently as his son drove the Tenseiga into the wound and prayed to the sword.

Sesshoumaru moved to stand beside his son, noting that Kanna was stirring. "Go. Take Kanna and return to the house. They may require assistance there. I shall bury Kagura."

Inuyasha withdrew his sword from the wound and gently laid Kagura on the ground, grateful that at least the body did not suffer the same fate her former master's had. He stood and sheathed the Tenseiga and silently retrieved the Toukijin. He walked over to Kanna and made his reply to Sesshoumaru with his back to his father. "There was indeed a threat at the house, but Ruri and the others have dealt with it. Not all mortals are weak. However, as you are head of this household, I will follow your commands."

He bent and scooped the smaller youkai up, setting her on his shoulder. "Youkoso, Kanna." he said, starting towards the house and leaving Sesshoumaru standing alone.

// \\

Epilogue:

Seth walked along the freshly-built path. His hunch was correct and he soon saw a familiar mane seated by a tombstone on the hill. As he approached, it occurred to him that this was probably the only location on the considerable Inutaishou estate where the ocean was visible. He crossed himself before Kagura's tombstone and seated himself beside the youkai.

"I was in Japan anyways, and was going to stop by and invite your son to come back with me, but I hear Nergal gave him his job back."

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru replied. "Less than twenty-four hours after it becomes evident that the Successors wish to rebuild, the board of Nergal changes its tune."

"They find who's claiming the 'Hakushin' title now?"

"You know what I know. A task force has been created to handle it."

"A task force of one man, I suppose," Seth remarked dryly.

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "Lapis is by his side again, and is keeping in contact with Yurika and Ruri. Akito will not disappear again."

"Heh, I suppose not. By the way, if you ever see that Gigi, kick his ass for me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he disappeared on me. Same night Kagura left, actually."

"That certainly explains some things," Sesshoumaru said quietly.

"Eh? Oh, whatever." Seth stood, taking in the vista before leaving. "News also said the Nadesico D was launching. Hoshino her captain?"

The youkai nodded slowly. "With Yurika as resident Admiral and the Chairman in tow."

"Sounds like quite a circus."

"That ship always is. You said you had meant to ask my son to return with you. Have you need of assassins?"

"Just potentially lethal force. What about Kanna?"

"As you said, the ship is quite a circus. One more silver-haired fairy won't make a difference," Sesshoumaru said as he rose, slinging the black blade over his shoulder. "I have already prepared to wander for a few years, and came here to contemplate which direction I should wander in. Shall we?"

// \\

_Once again not all our questions had answers. We can only assume that Naraku consumed the assistant professor who released him, but we don't know. Akatsuki-san and Fressange-san never told us why they aided the Heirs either, but we can assume it was to aid Lapis..._

_// \\_

Final thoughts...

Well, that's all, folks. If something about the ending doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to put a bow on it for ya. I think I've covered all the questions I intend to leave in an unanswered state. After all, it's Nadesico, so we can't have all the answers, can we?

**Naze Nani!**

  


So Maia (search for the author Maia Serrelinda) was ragging on me about how one day she was going to go through and count all the "in jokes" I put in my story. So, since everything's finished up with this story, I decided to beat her to the punch. The parts I considered jokes are numbered for each chapter, and anything marked with X is commentary or "not a joke" segments. So, without further ado, here you go:

  


**Chapter 1**

  


1. "Peace and long life, Inutaishou Inuyasha"

This one's pretty obvious, this is the first half of the famous vulcan salute.

  


2. "Master Project List"

For anyone not in the corporate world, yes, these really do exist.

  


3. Dean and Greg

Reverse the names, then go read reallifecomics.com. I guess it could also be pointed out that the character Greg is at least a little influenced by Wolfwood from Trigun.

  


4. Kobiyahshi Maru

Yes, yes, it refers to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Kaaaaaaaaaahhhhn!

  


5. Doctor Urashima of Tokyo University.

Inu's professor back in the day was indeed **that** Keitaro Urashima. Counting as part of this is the whole Hinata House bit. Though, as Keitaro's grandson, you'd think that he'd at least believe in cursed and possessed weapons. Go figure.

  


6. "Front"

...is a reference to Jubal Hershaw's, er, system in Heinlen's Stranger in a Strange Land.

  


X. Star Trek Protocol

Star Trek's protocol is a little more defined than Nadesico's seems to be, and since it influences Nadesico anyways, it seems natural to bring it in. Therefore, it's not really a joke per se, just something to point out.

  


  


**Chapter 2**

  


1. Bell peppers and beef from a cook named Jet.

Bebop. At least this one has beef in it.

  


2. Fluffy's car, music, and driving.

A parody of all cop shows from the 80's, up to and including Magnum and what apears to be Fluffy's favorite, Miami Vice.

  


  


**Chapter 3**

  


1. "Who's the master when it comes to making up some..."

This actually isn't as much a Star Trek joke as it is a Voltaire joke. It's a line from his "The U.S.S. Make Sh*t Up" (sic)

  


2. Shiner Bock

I'm from Texas. We don't let Zeiggenboch out of the state.

  


3. Ruri eating Tiramisu 

Yes, I do indeed know someone who refuses to eat the bottom half of tiramisu 

  


4. "...only nee-san..."

More Star Trek.

  


5. "...flicked open a..."

Again, more Star Trek.

  


  


**Chapter 4**

  


1. Title

It's a joke referring to Mechwarrior II. Load up a madcat or raven with a bunch of lasers and don't stop shooting. You'll see what I mean.

  


2. The thump to the head.

Sagare Sanosuke, at your service.

  


3. "Staring up at her with Giant puppy- dog eyes 

Yeah. He's being a dead ringer of his uncle here 

  


4. "And now. Go to Hell."

The original line was ''Go to Hell, motherfucker," mimicing From Dusk til Dawn but, you know. Kids reading this and all. Even though I rated it R.

  


5. The whole ''she cold choose you over me" thing. 

This is indirectly influenced by Dracula 

  


6. Bite-/byte-sized, bit-sized pieces.

I know it's a lame, over-used computer joke, but it was funny, huh foo?

  


  


X. Shutting Omoikane down.

For those not in I.T., yes, it really can take this long and include this much work to shutdown systems as large and complex as Omoikane. Frankly, if it were anybody else but Ruri it'd probably take 3-4 engineers working most of a day to coordinate something like this.

  


X. Hari's Sword,

This isn't an in-joke really, as these kinds of swords tend to be pretty prevalent in Anime – the Hinata blade of Love Hina, Tetsusaiga, Tenseiga, and Toukijin of Inuyasha, etc.

  


  


**Chapter 5**

  


1. Ultra-violence

Clockwork Orange. Not Cartoon Network.

  


2. IPSCSI

Lookit me, skirting trademarks. iSCSI is a protocol of IBM's... I figure this might be a future, open standard. Oh, and for those who like Naze Nani, I mean the acronym to be Internet Protocol Small Computer Systems Interface.

  


3. Ruri & the droplets of blood in the air scene.

This is based off of an existing image of Ruri, though in the original it's flower petals wafting around, not blood. I think it was the back of a VCD or something, as well as a pencil board.

  


4. "...and there really wasn't a place in this era..."

Kinda quoting Shishio here. At least, his spirit's behind it.

  


5. El Ray

It's gonna be all beans and rice and tortillas, Richie. (Dusk 'til Dawn)

  


6. The shuttle's shape...

... is pretty much ripped straight out of star Trek, even though they never used Runabouts this way.

  


7. Seth.

Yep, I see Seth as a descendant of the same one who fought vampires at the Tittly Twister. Did they look like psychos? No. They were fucking vampires. Psychos don't explode when sunlight hits them.

  


8. "Your shit is most certainly not togther."  
While I try to keep Sess's son's mouth cleaner than his uncle's, corrupting this quote was too much fun to pass up. And this exchange used to be a lo more profane. Once again, watering things for the kiddies. The original, again from From Dusk 'Til Dawn, was "now is my shit together or is my shit together?"

  


  


**Chapter 6**

  


1. Oro!

Kenshin, obviously. Where else have you heard that (un)word?

  


2. "... was a sword twice the length of Tetsusaiga or Tenseiga"

Indeed, this is intended to be the sword of the dhampir D from Vampire Hunter D.

  


3. The shots scene.

Geez, why don't I just call this "Nadesico: Inuyasha: From Dusk 'Til Dawn"?

  


4. "He began caterwauling..."

For those that need it spelled out, Sess was singing the Motor City Madman's "Cat Scratch Fever."

  


5. "... to know his face was nearing incandesance..."

From the Nadesico Thumbnail Theatre of the Christmas Episode. Gotoh Hoary: I have achieved Incandesance.

  


  


**Chapter 7**

  


1. Dean in the access panel.

Scotty. Jefferies Tubes.

  


  


**Chapter 8**

  


1. "How about I give you the finger..."

Hmmm.... Sess quoting The Matrix....

  


2. "I-nu-yasha."

The way the dub actor says it amuses me. Bugger off.

  


  


**Chapter 9**

  


1. McLeoud

Okay, so the whole thing's a lame Highlander Joke. At least the character knows it.

  


X. Blood and Souls...

This isn't a joke, but a direct rip from the Elric Saga, and I figured I should point it out for anyone who hasn't read any of the works. "Blood and Souls for Arioch!" Is the battle cry of Elric, as well as a phrase he uses in summoning his patron demon.

  


  


**Chapter 10**

  


1. "You say that word a lot..."

Riping off Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride.

  


2. "A fine mess..."

Abbott and Costello

  


3. "So, would he count..."

I'll break the trend and point out a Nadesico joke, since it may not have come out very well – Saburouta is ripping off Ruri's "are you a good guy or a bad guy?" she asked of Akatsuki in the movie.

  


  


**Chapter 11**

  


None that I could remember, actually....

  


  


**Chapter 12**

  


1. The chapter's title

This is one Nadesico joke I have to makr for those who've only seen the ADV Sub of the movie. Don't know if the line made it into the dub or not, but in the fansub I have (or the VCD rip, dunno which), this is what Akatsuki says after the pan smacks him in the head.

  


2. "Tales from the Meiji..."

Pretty obvious reference to Rurouni Kenshin, The Wandering Samurai: Tales from the Meiji Era. How much longer could that title get?

  


X. The Fountain.

It made an appearance in the first story, and makes one here. However, there's no joke. Maybe between Fluffy and his son, but none from me. Just kind of a "this one time, at _insert-camp-type_ camp..."

  


// \\

  


So I guess the final count's 41. Unless I missed some. Which is possible. Damn, needed one more and it'da been perfect. 'Less you want to count that one as the 42nd, which would be appropriate.

  


I haven't figured out if I want to do anything else with this crossover/au... thing I've created. May go off the deep end and follow Sess and Seth around in the next one. I dunno if I want to follow Ruri and Inu into space. Granted, the fanboy in me wants Ruri to have someone like Yurika & Akito have each other, but at the same time I don't know if I want to keep going until her story closes, you know? Granted, if ever there is more Nadesico, I'll be already conflicting with the canon at this point. :) We'll see, I suppose. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to contact me either at the address in my profile or through iyami-sama@serial-experiments.org. Although you could also PM me (Count_Twit) over at peacefuldays.org – if you've made it this far you're probably a die-hard Nadesico fan and the webmaster overthere's always looking for fresh blood and souls... er, new members :)

  


Later!


End file.
